In context | State of Ageing in 2020

Right now, just under one in every five people in the UK is aged 65 or older. In the year 2000, it was one in six. By 2048, it will be one in four.

​​​​​Source: ONS, Estimates of the population for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland (mid-2000) and ONS, Principal Projection – UK population in age groups (2018-based)

The fact that many of us are living longer is a great achievement. Later life can be a time of good health, activity and enjoyment. But our experience of ageing is still shaped far too much by the accumulation of disadvantage that builds up over our lifetimes.

People in the wealthiest parts of the country can expect to live over five years longer than those in the poorest. The average 65-year-old man in the wealthiest parts of the country will enjoy good health until he is 79. In the poorest parts of the country, he can only expect to enjoy good health until he is 71.

COVID-19 has brought these health inequalities into sharp focus – and has the potential to deepen them further.  At the peak of the pandemic, people in the poorest areas were dying at twice the rate of the wealthiest. Not only that, but the economic impact of the lockdown, the health implications of being confined to our homes for long periods of time, and the differing access people have to support will all further compound health inequalities.

Our vision at the Centre for Ageing Better is to create a society where everyone enjoys later life, and that means addressing these inequalities in how we age. In 2018, we identified four priority areas where change needs to happen in mid-life (age 50-70), if we want to make a reality of our vision. As we are approaching later life, we need to be in fulfilling work, live in safe and accessible housing, have the support and opportunities we need to stay healthy for as long as possible, and live in communities which enable us to connect with one another.

Although we live in a time of great uncertainty, the pandemic has made clear just how important all these things are to improve our resilience as a country and a society.

This report sets out the State of Ageing today – in numbers. Using data from a variety of sources, it sets out a clear assessment of how people in England and the UK are ageing today.¹ It also looks at past trends to see how we got here and takes a look to the future, if we do not act to change the trajectory we are on. These numbers are, of course, only part of the picture but they pinpoint many of the key areas where change is needed.

Unless radical action is taken by government, business and others in society, millions of us risk missing out on enjoying our later lives.

These regional differences are one of key reasons why our response to ageing and inequalities in the coming decades must be place-based – taking into account local demographics, economies and community structures.

We know that racial inequalities are felt profoundly in later life. A third of the poorest people aged 50-70 and living on less than £150 a week come from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background (BAME). Those from a BAME community in their 50s and 60s are half as likely as their White peers to be homeowners. We also know that racism and ageism intersect: a 2017 Anglia Ruskin study found that older Black men were less likely to be invited to interview than their older White or younger Black counterparts, and were more likely to receive offers for interview for lower-paid jobs.

This report draws out, where possible, how these racial inequalities manifest in our priority areas.  But the availability of data with a sufficient sample to draw out the experiences of ageing among people from different ethnic backgrounds is limited. Addressing this data gap must be a key step in addressing racism at a systemic, policy level.

The proportion of people aged 50 or over who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual is smaller than among younger people, but it is growing (from 1.3% of those aged 50-64 in 2014 to 1.7% in 2018, according to ONS estimates) – and will grow more, as those younger generations age. A 2011 survey found that lesbian, gay and bisexual people over the age of 55 are more likely to be single, more likely to live alone, less likely to have children, and twice as likely to rely on external services for health, social care and support.

Data like this reminds us that ageing in the future will not necessarily look like ageing in the past. With more people likely to be living outside a more traditional family structure as they age, the need for other community and social infrastructure to support people in later life will be even more important.

The story of pensioner poverty over the last 50 years is broadly positive: pensioners experienced by far the highest rates of poverty in the 1960s, and now experience the lowest. This has been driven by a range of factors, including: increasing levels of employment at later ages, increasing entitlements to the State Pension (including a recognition of years taken out of the workforce by women caring for children), the growth in the size of private pension pots, and the introduction of Pension Credit.

The factors putting this growth under threat are as yet not entirely clear. But this does remind us that poverty at later ages is not inevitable. Younger generations will face a very different context when they enter later life. Poverty rates will be a key metric to watch in the coming years, as an indicator of whether we really are improving later lives.

The fact that average wealth rises with age is not surprising: over a lifetime, most people accumulate assets (most notably, a home), and many will receive inheritances. But this chart shows just how stark the gap is between those who are able to accumulate wealth, and those who are not. Between the ages of 25-34, the gap between the average person in the wealthiest and least wealthy 10% of people is just over £100,000. Between the ages of 55-64, the gap has reached more than £500,000. This illustrates the risk involved in targeting policies at all older people based on their average higher wealth. Such age-based policies will always risk penalising those who have struggled most throughout their lives.

There are many things driving this discrepancy, including poverty, education, the quality of the houses and communities we live in and the types of work we do, the access we have to physical activity and nutritious food, and the levels of stress we endure. There is more discussion of this in our ‘Health’ section.

The urgency of changing the underlying conditions which generate these inequalities has been laid bare by the COVID-19 crisis. We do not yet know the impact of the pandemic on our life expectancy. However, it seems likely that the increased mortality we have seen, both from COVID-19 itself and from other conditions that remained undiagnosed and untreated as a result of the pandemic, will lead to a reduction in life expectancy, especially in those subgroups of the population that were most affected by the pandemic –  that is, older people and the most disadvantaged.

In general, the older we get, the weaker our immune systems are, and the more likely we are to suffer from one or more health condition. The oldest people are therefore at greatest risk from COVID-19.

Within this, there are groups that have been particularly affected. As described above, people in the poorest areas have died at twice the rate of those in the richest. We also know that the risk of death among people from Black, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian and Mixed Ethnic backgrounds is higher than among White people. People in particular occupations – such as care workers and bus and taxi drivers – have also have higher death rates. Men have died at a higher rate from COVID-19 than women. All of this is driven by both structural and health inequalities, which are described in our later chapters.

It is important to remember that older people have not just been passive sufferers during this pandemic: they have also been a key part of the informal social infrastructure mobilised to cope with it. There is more discussion of the role that people in mid- and later-life play in our communities in the ‘Communities’ section.

Caring hugely – and increasingly – shapes the experiences of people in mid-life. Of carers aged 45 or over, 6% say they have given up work due to their caring responsibility, and 9% say their work has been adversely affected. Among sandwich carers (who care for both a dependent child and an older relative), 46% of women and 35% of men say they are unable to work as much as when they were not caring. Carers on average earn less, get less sleep, and report lower life satisfaction than non-carers. This will have knock-on effects for carers’ own health and wellbeing as they enter later life. Supporting carers is a critical part of ensuring we can all age well.

This is consistent with the pattern seen in ‘normal’ times, when life satisfaction was observed to fall between the ages of 30 and 50, before climbing again after 55. It is perhaps surprising to see this pattern continue, given the risks posed to people aged 70 or over and the restrictions placed on them under lockdown – although it should be noted overall, people with a health condition which put them at specific risk in relation to COVID-19 have reported consistently lower life satisfaction.

This serves as a counterbalance to the gloom and doom pictures of ageing that often surround us. Later life has the potential to be a time of rich enjoyment and fulfilment.  But, as the data in this report reveals, there are still too many people who do not have access to these benefits – where the accumulation of disadvantages over a lifetime leads to a later life spent in financial insecurity, poor health, poor housing and social exclusion. On the current trajectory, these inequalities are set to deepen further for future generations.

Change is possible – there are practical actions included throughout this report which will make a real difference. But we must act now, to protect the state of ageing for future generations.

¹ The Centre for Ageing Better has a remit to focus on England – so in most cases, the data in this report also covers just England. However, in some places, the data is only available at a UK level – so some of our charts describe the whole of the UK. The chart title makes clear what area the data for each chart covers.