Aging Population In The UK

here is an ever aging population in the UK; this has been described as a ‘pensioners time bomb’ and will result in many changes for society. There are a number of factors that have caused this. Thomas McKeown (1972) argues that improved nutrition since the 1900‘s has accounted for up to half the reduction in death rates another factor for this is medical improvements (such as the introduction of the NHS in 1948 and antibiotics) and public health measures (like the Clean Air Act of 1956). Some people argue that the increase of over 65’s presents a problem to society in terms of providing for this group, most of whom are no longer in paid work. In this essay I will present arguments that support and oppose the notion that the increase in population
One point is the cost of the NHS is going to rapidly increase. The Griffiths Report (1988) supports this statement because it presented that as the number of old people increases so does the cost of health and social care. Therefore if there is an increased cost of the NHS it could result in other public services, for an example education, having to be compromised because of the escalated cost of it. However other public services may not necessarily be compromised; but this would result in an increase of tax (an unpopular idea within the UK). But as the over 75‘s represent an increasingly important group of voters this idea may become more accepted. As many people could oppose the idea of an increase in tax this would make it hard for the government to implement it. Another point that supports the concept that an aging population will present a problem to society is the increase in dependency ratio. The non-working old are an economically dependent group; consequently they need to be provided by those of a working age. As there will be a considerable increase in the number of non-working old people (thus an increase in the dependency ratio) there will have to be measures to increase the amount of independent members of society. These measures are often unpopular and can cause a divide of opinions in society. One measure that has already taken place is the increase of
Some people believe that if the current polices change there wont be a problem. Donald Hirsch (2005) argues that though a number of social policies will need to change to be able to deal with the aging population; they can be done be redistributing other educational resources towards older people so that their skills are improved and they are able to earn money. Correspondingly there would need to be changes in housing to encourage older people who own larger houses to ‘trade down’ to smaller houses. If this was to occur this would release the wealth thus causing the improvement of standards of living for younger people. So if there is an improvement in the standards of living for younger people it will help make it easier for them to provide to the dependent members of society. Another point that opposes the concept that an aging population will present a problem to society is that if there is going to be more older this will mean there will be a consumer group that will become more important. Thus increasing the chances of businesses able to flourish in this market. This contradicts the idea that an aging population will cause an economic liability and deuce the wealth of the UK. Finally; if there is an aging population this means that the life expectancy of people is going up as well. So if people have to retire this shouldn’t be viewed as a bad thing, but as a sign that we are