06-8
Chapter One
Health, ageing and the context
Of care
Karen Bryan and Jane Maxim
Population issues
Across the EU, people over 65 form 17% of the population (ONS 2002a).
The UK had a population of 59.2 million at the last census in 2001. For
the first time, people over 60 form a larger part of the population (21%)
than children under 16 (20%). There has also been a large increase in the
number of people over 85: now 1.1 million, which is 2% of the population.
In England and Wales there are 336 000 people aged 90 and over,
and of these nearly 4000 are providing 50 or more hours of care to another
family friend or carer.
Older people receive a large proportion of health and social care
spending. In 2000, £28 billion were spent on hospital and community
care with nearly two-fifths of this spend on people aged 56 and over (ONS
2001). In England and Wales, 5.2 million people provide informal care,
including a million who provide more than 50 hours a week and 1.6 million
who are in full-time work.
A major public health issue for the next century is the increase in the
number of older peopl ... read full excerpt from Communication Disability in the Dementias ebook
