Ancient Britons

Britain’s population is getting bigger.. and older

The British Isles are going to become more crowded and an ever-increasing proportion of the inhabitants will be pensioners.

Those are the stark findings of the Office for National Statistics, which says the population is now at a record high of 66 million – and set to soar still further.

On current trends, the UK will be home to 70 million people by 2029 and 72.9 million by 2041.

Ten years ago just 15.9% of the population was aged 65 and over.

Last year the figure reached 18.2%, which is 12 million, and this is projected to stand at 24% by 2037 – one in every four Britons.

These statistics are both a cause for celebration and consternation.

The good news is they show that advances in healthcare and changes in lifestyle means we are living longer. Babies born between 2015 and 2017 are expected to live 79.2 years if male (up two years since 2005-07) and 82.9 years if female (up 1.4 years in that period).

Remarkably, 20.8% of boys and 31.7% of girls born this year are forecast to reach 100.

But an ageing population brings additional challenges in the forms of pension, health and social care costs.

The ONS says the rising number of elderly people flows from the second wave of baby boomers – those born in the 1960s and 1970s.

These are the children of the first wave of baby boomers (those born between 1945 and 1955) and they turn 70 or 80 in the 2030s, 40s and 50s.

By 2041 there may be an additional 8.6 million Britons aged 65 and over – a population roughly the size of London now. That would take the total to 20.4 million, or 26.5% of the entire population. Meanwhile, the percentage of Britons aged under 16 is on a steady downward trend that is forecast to continue.

There has also been a 4% rise in the number of people living alone. In the 16-64 age group the total

is 3.9 million, with 58.5% of them men. The figure for those aged 65 and over is 3.8 million – and 66.5% of them are women.

Of Britain’s 19 million families, 12.9 million feature a couple either married or in a civil partnership, 3.3 million a cohabiting couple and 2.8 million a lone parent.

Costlier housing has led to an increase in the number of young people living with their parents. The ONS says 32% of men and 20% of women aged 20-34 now do so – the highest number since records began in 1996.

The population rise has been fuelled by births outnumbering deaths (755,000 to 607,000 in 2017) and immigration exceeding

emigration (631,000 to 349,000 in the same year). In 2007 some 89% of UK inhabitants were born here and 93% were British nationals. Last year the respective figures were 86% and about 90%. The number of EU nationals here has doubled from 1.6 million in 2007 to 3.8 million last year. This includes 922,000 Poles, 390,000 Irish, 390,00 Romanians and 318,000 Germans. From outside the EU there are 829,000 who were born in India living in the UK, 522,000 from Pakistan, 263,000 from Bangladesh and 228,000 from South Africa. Statistician Sarah Coates, of the ONS’s Centre for Ageing and Demography, said: “The country’s population has doubled over the past 140 years, reaching 66 million in 2017. Our current projection is that there will be almost 73 million people by 2041. “This growth is due to there being more births than deaths and more people moving to the UK than leaving.

“As well as growing, the population is also ageing. From looking at past patterns, we project that more than a quarter of UK residents will be aged 65 or over within the next 50 years.”