The ageing population

• dependency ratio


  • the number of dependents: number of people in employment
  • in 2015, there were 3.2 people of working age for every one pensioner. This ratio is predicted to fall to 2.8 to one by 2033
• new right view on dependency ratio

  • hate dependance
  • hates people not working
  • migrants destroy traditions
  • hate lone parents
• functionalist view on dependency ratio


  agree with it as they believe its needed

  too many - dysfunctional

  migration is okay as working people still exist
• ageing population

  • the average age of the UK is rising
  • caused by 3 factors
  • increasing life expectancy - people are living longer into older ages
  • declining infant mortality - hardly anyone dies early in age
  • declining fertility - fewer young people being born in relation to older people
• effects the ageing population has on public services

  • older people consume a larger proportion of services such as health and social care than other age groups
  • this is particularly true of the 'old old' (usually defined as 75 or over) as against the young old (65-74).
  • however these stats are overgeneralised as many that reach old age are still in relatively good health
  • led to changes to policies and provision of housing, transport and other services
• one-person pensioner households

  • the number of pensioners living alone has increased and one-person pensioner households now account for about 12.5% or one in eight of all households
  • most of these are female, both because women generally live longer than men, and because they are usually younger than their husbands
  • among over the 75s there is 2x as many women as men
  • this has been described as the 'feminisation of later life'
• ageism

  • the negative stereotyping and unequal treatment of people on the basis of their age
  • ageism towards older people shows itself in many ways, such as discrimination in employment and unequal treatment in health care
• modern society and old age

  • ageism is a result of 'structured dependency'
  • structured dependency is when the old are largely excluded from paid work, leaving them economically dependent on their families or the state
• post modern society and old age

  • the fixed, orderly stages of the life course have broken down, giving individuals a greater choice of lifestyle, whatever their age.
  • consumption, not production, becomes the key to our identities.
  • Hunt 2005 argues this means that we can choose a lifestyle and identity regardless of age
• the centrality of the media

  • media images now portray more positive aspects of the lifestyles of the elderly
• the emphasis on surface features

  • the emphasis on surface features means the body becomes a canvas on which we can write identities
  • anti-ageing products enable old people to write different identities for themselves
• inequality among the old

  • Pilcher 1995 argues that inequalities such as class and gender remain important
  • class - middle class have better occupational pensions whereas poorer old people people suffer from more infirmity
  • gender - women earn less and have more career breaks so have lower pensions
  • older people also face discrimination that limits their choices: Age Concern (2004) found more people (29%) reported suffering age discrimination than any other form
• policy implication

  • Hirsch 2005 argues that a number of important social policies will need to change to tackle the new problems posed by an ageing population
  • the main problem will be how to finance a longer period of old age
  • this can be done by paying more from our savings and taxes while we are working or by working for longer or both
  • these policy changes also may require a cultural change in our attitudes towards old age