ISSUES
: Our Changing Population
Chapter 2: Global population issues
19
countries, while transfers (both
public and private) become
more important. In contrast, in
the developed countries public
transfers are a major source of
old-age support, financing 39 per
cent of the consumption among
60–69-year-olds and 67 per cent
among those aged 70 years or over.
Older persons contribute financially
to their families. Older persons are
often net providers of financial
transfers to their children and
grandchildren in both developed
and developing countries.
In developing countries, older
persons aged 60 to 69 years give
net financial transfers to younger
generations in an amount equivalent
to 28 per cent of older persons’
consumption. They become net
receivers of familial transfers only
at more advanced ages (70 years or
over), in an amount that accounts
for 12 per cent of their consumption.
In the more developed countries,
familial transfers comprise a
smaller share of older persons’
consumption even at more
advanced ages: those aged 70 or
over finance around seven per cent
of their consumption, on average,
through familial transfers.
Older persons increasingly are
living independently. 40 per cent of
the world’s older population lives
independently, that is, either alone
or with a spouse only.
3
While the
percentage living independently
is similar by sex, higher female
life expectancy means that older
women are more likely to live alone
(19 per cent) than older men (11 per
cent).
Independent living is the dominant
living arrangement of older persons
in the more developed regions:
almost three quarters of them live
alone or with a spouse only. In
contrast, less than 30 per cent of
older persons in the less developed
regions live independently. As
populations continue to age,
independent living is expected
to become increasingly common
among older persons in both the
3 United Nations (2013). World Population Ageing
2013, available from
.
more developed and less developed
regions.
Healthcare systems must
adapt to meet the changing
needs of an ageing
population
As
populations
age,
non-
communicable diseases (NCDs)
account for a growing share of the
overall disease burden, thereby
confronting healthcare systems
with new prevention and treatment
challenges. The NCDs most
associated with old age include
cardiovascular diseases, cancers,
diabetes and respiratory diseases,
as well as other prominent causes
of disability, such as arthritis,
hearing and vision loss, depression,
dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
While many countries have achieved
reductions in the prevalence and
severity of disability even as people
survive to more advanced ages,
4
growth in the overall number of older
persons has produced increases in
the burden of NCD-related disability.
The years of life lost due to disability
(YLD) is a metric that summarises
both the prevalence and severity
of disability experienced in a
population. The countries that
saw the largest increases in the
population aged 60 or over between
2000 and 2012 – most of which are
4 Christensen, K., G. Doblhammer, R. Rau and J.W.
Vaupel (2009). Ageing populations: the challenges
ahead, The Lancet, vol. 374, No. 9696, pp. 1196-
1208.
located in Africa, Asia and Latin
America and the Caribbean –
also tended to experience larger
proportional increases in the years
of life lost due to NCD-related
disability.
As the population of older persons
continues to grow into the future, so
too will the demand for interventions
that prevent and treat morbidities
associated with old age. Preventing
disease and postponing morbidity
to later ages can both improve older
persons’ quality of life and mitigate
future increases in healthcare costs
implied by population ageing.
Nevertheless, apart from population
ageing, income growth and
technological advances in medicine
are anticipated to continue to
exert substantial upward pressure
on health expenditures in many
countries.
5
5
October 2015
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The above information is
reprinted with kind permission
from the UN. Please visit www.
un.org for further information.
© UN 2015
5 WHO (2011). Global health and ageing: brief report.
Ageing population in the UK, 2014
• There were over half a million people aged 90 and over living in
the United Kingdom (UK) in 2014.
• For every 100 men aged 90 and over in 2014 there were 249
women.
• The number of centenarians (people aged 100 and over) living in
the UK has risen by 72% over the last decade to 14,450 in 2014.
• 780 of the 14,450 centenarians living in the UK in 2014 were
estimated to be aged 105 or more, double the number in 2004.
• England and Wales had more centenarians per 100,000
population in 2014 than Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Source:
Estimates of the Very Old (including Centenarians),
England and Wales, and United Kingdom, 2002 to 2014
, Office for
National Statistics
