Quarter of Britons will be over 65 in 30 years

Population to hit 70m in 2026

One in four of the UK population will be over 65 within 30 years – risking a social care crisis worse than today’s.

The latest figures suggest the proportion of older people will rise from 17.8 per cent to 24.6 per cent by 2045.

Projections show the number of over-65s is growing so rapidly that they are expected to overtake the number of children in eight years.

Between 2015 and 2045, the elderly population will rise by 7.1million – from 11.6million to 18.7million.

experts at the Office for National Statistics predict there will be 365 people of a pensionable age for every 1,000 workers, compared with 308 last year. It raises questions about how the country will cope with such a dramatic population expansion when many housing and public services are already overstretched.

In the same period, the proportion of working-age individuals – who pay taxes that support social care – will plunge from 63.3 per cent to 57.8 per cent, even though there will be a real rise of 2.7million people.

In December, a think-tank warned of a £13billion black hole in the social care bill by 2030.

Britain will also face enormous pressures on funding pensions for ever-higher numbers of people.

The ONS confirmed previous projections that Britain will become europe’s most populous country, overtaking France and Germany with 77million by 2050.

The report said this ‘may result in fewer people of working age to support those of pension age. While a larger population increases size and productive capacity of the workforce, it increases pressure and demand for services such as education, healthcare and housing.’

Baroness Altmann, the former Tory pensions minister, said: ‘If we don’t change the way we think about how our lives go, a lot of people are going to become poorer. If older people make up an increasing proportion of the population … the cost will be higher taxes for the young or poorer pensions.’

Age UK’s Caroline Abrahams said the report ‘underlines the importance of making sure the relevant services and provisions are in place to meet the needs of older people’.

‘For example, our flat-lining social care system has been chronically underfunded for years and will simply collapse unless a better strategy is put in place and substantially more money is found,’ she added.

‘It also means making the places where we live and all the key services, from transport to banking, easy to navigate for older people.’

The ONS said the population will pass 70million in 2026, a year earlier than projections made in 2015. It added: ‘Recent uplifts in population growth have generally coincided with an increase in the number of countries holding EU membership.’

‘Care system will simply collapse’