Skip to content
Please donate


Why we need to change how we age

Two older women, looking in different directions into the distance

The state of the nation

We review the data on the challenges older people face, and why Age UK's new strategy is a bold step towards changing how we age.

By: Age Uk

Published:

The UK population is ageing, and many older people facing significant challenges, such as loneliness, poor health, and unmet need for care and poverty.

Age UK believes that our society is adjusting too slowly to these changes and we therefore aren’t making the most of the opportunity of our ageing population.

How to use this page

This page features interactive charts to illustrate findings.

You will need to scroll down the page to navigate through each of the charts. To see further detail about each chart, click or hover over any part of the image.

The report also includes a map where you can search for a particular local authority as well as zoom in and out of the map by holding down Ctrl + scroll.

Our ageing population

Our population is ageing and becoming increasingly diverse. Some areas of the country - and some groups of the population - are ageing faster than others. The challenges that Age UK supports older people with are also increasingly common as our society fails to adapt.

Transforming Attitudes

Ageism is widespread and many of us are reluctant to contemplate the realities of getting older. The opportunity to take action earlier on in our lives, which would increase our chances of a fulfilling later life, can be missed, because of the barriers either we or the society we live in put in our way. This can mean that we start our later lives less resilient than we might be.

Age UK wants to start a national conversation about ageing and later life, to reduce ageism and discrimination and enable people in mid-life to think about and plan for their own ageing.

Local Age UK beneficiary, Agatha holding flowers smiling with joy

Being able to go out and move is very, very important... People are not helpful either, they roll their eyes like ‘see what you are doing to us’ because it takes you longer or they say you’re getting in the way.

Agatha, Age UK storyteller

Poverty & inequality

Pensioner poverty is increasing and there are enormous and growing inequalities within our older population. Although some pensioners are well-off and secure, there are many who are not, and some groups are disproportionately likely to be struggling on very low incomes. Those who are struggling also often aren’t receiving all the support they’re entitled to from the Government.

Age UK are continuing and expanding our work to help older people to claim the benefits they're entitled to, and working with older people to influence the Government to make changes to reduce poverty and inequality in later life.

I dread the coming winter. I’ve tried to put money away during the summer in order to pay the winter bills but I don’t know how I’m going to cope. I stay home, turn the heating off, turn the lights off and go to bed at 7 o’clock.

Sheila, Age UK storyteller

Health and care

In the last decade, the centuries-long trend to increasing life expectancy has plateaued. We are, however, living as long as we ever have. These longer lives are not necessarily healthier and many of us live with chronic or debilitating health conditions, with those who have experienced disadvantage across their lives at greater risk. The need for care is increasing, and despite the efforts of millions of unpaid carers, there is not enough professional care available and many go without the care they need.

Age UK is working to ensure that older people's health and care needs are a top priority for healthcare professionals, Government and other decision makers, and we are working with our local Age UK partners to ensure older people in communities across the UK have better health and care.

I had osteoarthritis in both hips and I couldn’t cope with stairs. I could get up them, but I couldn't get down and without risk of falling. When [the spinal cord damage] happened, I knew that I won't be able to work anymore.

Terry, Age UK storyteller

Share this page

Last updated: Oct 23 2024

Become part of our story

Sign up today

Back to top