By 2037, 25pc in UK ‘will be 65 plus’

NEARLY ONE in four people living in the UK will be 65 or older in less than 20 years, according to official population projections.

The proportion of inhabitants in the age group stood at nearly one in five last year. Demographers project that it will reach 24 per cent by 2037, with more than a quarter of residents aged 65 or over within the next 50 years.

By 2066, there could be an additional 8.6m inhabitants in the age bracket, meaning it will grow by a figure roughly equivalent to the number living in present-day London.

The rise would take the number of people who are 65 and over to 20.4m - accounting for 26.5 per cent of the projected population, according to analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The report, which draws together a range of previously released data, said the UK population reached a new high of 66m in mid-2017 and is projected to continue growing, reaching almost 73m by 2041.

Sarah Coates, of the ONS’s centre for ageing and demography, said the UK population has doubled over the last 140 years.

She said: “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 years or over within the next 50 years.”

The analysis noted that with advances in technology, healthcare and lifestyles, people in the UK are living longer than they might have in years gone by. In 1997, one in every six people (15.9 per cent) were aged 65 years and over, increasing to almost one in five (18.2 per cent) in 2017 and projected to reach around one in four (24 per cent) by 2037.