The Ageing Population

The Ageing Population

• The average age in the UK is rising, and there are more older people relative to younger people.
• In 1971, it was 34.1 years.
• By 2013, it stood at 40.3.
• By 2037, it is projected to reach 42.8.
• The number aged 65 or over equalled the number of under-15s for the first time ever in 2014.
• Another way of illustrating the age-profile of a population is through age-pyramids. The age pyramid for Malta shows a higher proportion of older people than young.
• Donald Hirsch (2005) notes, the traditional age ‘pyramid’ is disappearing and being replaced by more or less equal-sized ‘blocks’ representing the different age groups.
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• Caption: Age pyramid for Malta in 2050

Why is the population ageing?

• This ageing of the population is caused by three factors:
• Increasing life expectancy – people are living longer into old age
• Declining infant mortality, so that nowadays hardly anyone dies early in life
• Declining fertility – fewer young people are being born in relation to the number of older people in the population.
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Effects of an ageing population

• Public services
• Older people consume a lot of healthcare resources. This particularly true for the 'old-old' (75+), but not necessarily for the 'young-old' (66-74).
• An ageing population may also mean changes to policies and provision of housing, transport or other services. For example, retirement age may increase.
• One-person pensioner households
• The number of pensioners living alone has increased and one-person pensioner households now account for about 12.5% of all households.
• Most of these are female, because they have a higher life expectancy, and are generally younger than their husbands.
• Among the over-75s, there are twice as many women as men. This has been described as the ‘feminisation of later life’.
• The dependency ratio
• Like the non-working young, the non-working old are an economically dependent group who need to be provided for by those of working age, for example through taxation to pay for pensions and health care.
• As the number of retired people rises, this increases the dependency ratio and the burden on the working population.
• In 2015, there were 3.2 people of working age for every one pensioner. This ratio is predicted to fall to 2.8 to one by 2033.
• However, not all 'old' people are economically dependent. For example, the age at which people can draw their pension is rising – from 2020 both men and women will have to wait until they are 66 to access the state pension.
• More dependent old people could be because there are less dependent children.

Ageism

• Another consequence of the ageing population and a higher dependency ratio results in more ageism. Ageism is the negative stereotyping or unequal treatment of someone on the basis of age.
• Ageism is present because there is still discrimination in employment and unequal treatment in healthcare.
• Much of the discourse (way of speaking and thinking) about old age has also been socially constructed into a problem. For example, taxpayers may be concerned about the cost of the pension scheme.
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Modern Society and Old Age

• Modernist sociologists argue that ageism is a result of 'structured dependency'. This is where elderly people are largely excluded from paid work, and are forced to be dependent on the working population.
• In modern society, our identity is largely determined by our role in production. Those excluded from paid work therefore have a dependent status and stigmatised identity.
• Marxist sociologist Phillipson (1982) argues that the old are of no use to capitalism because they are no longer productive. The state are therefore not willing to adequately support them, so family members, especially female relatives have to care for them.
• In modern society, life is structured into a fixed series of stages, such as childhood, youth and so on. Age becomes important in role allocation, creating fixed life stages and age-related identities, such as worker or pensioner. The old are thus excluded from a role in the labour force and made dependent and powerless.

Postmodernism and Old Age

• Postmodern sociologists argue that the modernist orderly stages of the life course have broken down.
• For example, trends such as children dressing in adult styles, later marriage and early retirement all begin to blur the boundaries between the life stages. This gives individuals a greater choice of lifestyle, whatever their age.
• What we consume becomes the key to our identities, not what we produce.
• As Hunt (2005) argues, this means we can choose a lifestyle and identity regardless of age: our age no longer determines who we are or how we live.
• The old have become a market for various products such as ‘body maintenance’ or ‘rejuvenation’ goods and services through which they can create their identities. These include cosmetic surgery, exercise equipment, gym memberships and anti-ageing products.
• These trends begin to break down the ageist stereotypes found in modern society.
• However, old age is also shown not to be stigmatised in postmodern society;
• Media images now portray positive aspects of the lifestyles of the elderly.
• The body has become a surface on which we can write identities. Anti-ageing products enable the old to write different identities for themselves.

Inequality among the old

• However, while the orderly stages of the life course may have broken down somewhat, Pilcher (1995) argues that inequalities such as class and gender remain important. Many of these are related to the individual’s previous occupational position.
• The middle class have better occupational pensions and greater savings from higher salaries. Poorer old people have a shorter life expectancy and suffer more infirmity (making it more difficult to maintain a youthful self-identity).
• Women’s lower earnings and career breaks as carers mean lower pensions. They are also subject to sexist as well as ageist stereotyping, for example being described as ‘old hags’.
• Postmodernists understate the importance of such inequalities. These are related to the structure of wider society and they play a major part in shaping the experience of old age, often restricting the freedom of the elderly to choose an identity through their consumption.
• Older people also face discrimination that limits their choices: Age Concern (2004) found more people (29%) reported suffering age discrimination than any other form.

Policies

• Donald Hirsch (2005) argues that a number of important social policies will need to change to tackle the new problems posed by an ageing population.
• The main problem will be how to finance a longer period of old age. This can be done by paying more from our savings and taxes while we are working, or by working for longer, or both.
• Housing policy may also need to change to encourage older people to ‘trade down’ into smaller accommodation. This would release wealth to improve their standard of living and free up housing for younger people.
• As Hirsch recognises, these policy changes also require a cultural change in our attitudes towards old age. His view illustrates the notion that old age is a social construct – not a fixed, purely biological fact, but something shaped and defined by society.
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