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
is a problem for society. There are multiple ideas to support the idea that an aging population will cause problems to society.
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
retirement age. Now men and women have to wait until the age of 65 to access their state pension. If the quality of peoples health is increasing, so it is argued that the age that people are able to retire at should increase to. Over the next decades the age that people will be able to receive a state pension may have to increase again. Another proposal that would be able to increase immigration. In recent years net migration has increased and is predicted to increase further. Advantages of letting more dependent people migrate to the UK are lowering the dependency ratio and that people who immigrate to the UK on average have larger families so there for are more likely to have a positive impact on the ratio of old to young people. Although it could be argued that along with immigration comes culture and diversity, it could also be argued that immigration can also be a factor that can arise racism, because of this it causes conflict between people who have different opinions on the matter of immigration. There are also some individuals that perform acts of racial hatred and can be a menace to immigrants. There will be many changes within society and the economy so that we are able to adapt to an aging population. Nonetheless these changes can seem to cause more of an economic liability and therefore could reduce the wealth of the UK. However someone could argue that an aging population isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
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
healthier so we are able to work for longer. Also if the age of retirement increases this means that people have more time to contribute to society and therefore can help increase the wealth of the UK. It could be argued that the fact is that older people, on average, are much more fit and healthier of what they were even 50 years ago so it shouldn’t be a reason that after a certain age people should stop working and the fact that people can work for longer is simply a sign of development. If peoples attitudes change towards the idea of old age it could shine a different light onto the aging population. It could be argued that the changes within society shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a bad thing but just a sign that as a society we are becoming more advanced and implementing changes are just necessary so that as a society we are able to keep up with modern day life. To conclude, I believe that an aging population will cause problems for society. My reasoning to come to this decision is because although the general quality of peoples lives may be improving and life expectancies are increasing, along with this comes effects onto the government and will cause a large amount of strain onto resources and public services (as shown in the Griffiths Report (1988)). There will have to be decisions implemented because of the drastic change in age of society and this could cause a large divide of opinions between peoples ideas on what decisions should be taken. Therefore causing a significant amount of people to be unhappy with the way the polices that the UK chooses to implement.