AGING POPULATION

• 2021 19% of UK population are aged 65 or over

  2011 was 16%
• 1.3 million over 65s care for their spouse at home
• 1 in 4 working families rely on grandparents for child care

  1 in 3 working mothers
• effect on households

  elderly couple households, almost 1.3 million over 65s are carers for spouse

  elderly one person households

  family support for elderly is weaker than in the past
• beanpole families

  doesnt extend horizontally- less extended family

  extends vertically, many generations alive at same time

  lots of attention on child, more childcare
• sandwich generation

  group of middle-aged adults who care for their ageing parents and their own children
• dependency ratio

  the relationship between the size of the working population and the size of the non-working population

  2015 3.2 working adults per pensioner
• the grey vote

  potentially, more policies are aimed at older voters as they represent an increasingly significant number
• changing attitudes to aging

  modernist view: old age identity is one of dependence and powerlessness

  postmodernist view: we can choose our identities which are no longer based on age. breaks down ageist attitudes