Children and older people - the proportion of the population aged under 16 or 65 and over in 1971 and 2002
The percentage of people aged 75 and over rose from 4 per cent in 1971 to 7 per cent in the mid-1990s. Since then this proportion has remained constant.
By contrast, there has been a decrease in the percentage of children under the age of 16, from 25 per cent in 1971 to 20 per cent, since 1998.
For more detailed information, please download the Households, families & people PDF on the right-hand side of the page.
Source: Living in Britain 2002, published 2004
Note: The GHS interviews all people aged 16 and over in private households. This means that the population figures presented here do not include those living in institutions and residential homes.
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Households