National Statistics logo 22 August 2008

focus on older people

Older People  
Focus on Older People paints a picture of people aged 50 and over in the UK today. It includes information on their characteristics, lifestyles and experiences, placing particular emphasis on changes with age.

Older people make up an increasing proportion of our population. The blurring of the various stages in our lifecycle mean that older people are as varied as any other group in our society. Many older people lead active and healthy lives for many years over the age of 50. Employment rates for people in their fifties have risen in the past decade, and it is this age group who are most likely to be providing unpaid care. However, for those at older ages, there may be barriers which prevent them from participating in a wide variety of activities. These may be financial, or related to health or lack of transport.

-
-
-
-
arrow Population
20.0 million aged 50 and over
- arrow Living arrangements
3 in 5 women aged 75+ live alone
-
arrow Housing
1 in 2 aged 50+ own home outright
- arrow Labour market
1 in 5 older workers self-employed
-
arrow Health & well being
More years in poor health for women
- arrow Health & social care
2.8m aged 50+ provide unpaid care
-
arrow Income, wealth & expenditure
Incomes rose by 28% in 8 years
- arrow Lifestyles
3 in 10 men aged 80+ own a mobile phone
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
arrow Download full report & data - arrow- Download summary
    report
(pdf)
-
-
-
-
-
DWP logo

About this series
Each overview in the Focus on series combines data from the 2001 Census and other sources to illustrate its topic, and provide links to further information. The online overviews will be followed up with more comprehensive analysis in fuller reports.



This page printed from National Statistics Website.
Crown Copyright applies unless otherwise stated.