7 Old age psychiatry7.1 Demographic change

7.1 Demographic change and mental health in later life

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Written by Resident Doctor Committee · Published

Population ageing

  • Population ageing means a growing share of people reach older ages, shaped by fertility, survival and migration.

  • The Office for National Statistics' 2022-based projections put UK residents aged 65 or over at 12.7 million (19%) in 2022, rising to 22.1 million (27%) by 2072.

Compare the width of the bands: the UK's 2026 pyramid is narrower in the youngest bands and bulges through the thirties to sixties, so it does not taper steadily from the base as a classic pyramid would. Mishomp, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dementia prevalence in the UK

Population

Prevalence

Roughly

Whole UK population, all ages

1.3%

1 in 79

UK aged 65 and over

7.1%

1 in 14

  • The 65-and-over figure comes from Alzheimer's Society's Dementia UK report. Do not confuse it with the all-ages figure.

  • Alzheimer's Society's 2024 modelling estimated about 982,000 people with dementia, rising to 1.4 million by 2040.

Rates and numbers move apart

  • The Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies found that dementia prevalence at 65 and over in England fell from 8.3% in the early 1990s to 6.5% in 2008 to 2011.

  • Case numbers can rise while prevalence falls: 10 million older people at 8% gives 800,000 cases, but 15 million at 6% gives 900,000.

  • Even stable age-specific rates of depression or severe mental illness mean more people need care as the population ages.

Age is a poor guide to need

  • Frailty, meaning reduced reserve across body systems, guides care better than an age cut-off.

  • Living alone differs from loneliness, which is the subjective lack of wanted connection.

Revision material for the MRCPsych examinations. Not clinical guidance, and not for use in patient care.