The UK’s population is ageing rapidly, with the number of people aged 85 and over projected to double over the next 25 years, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown.

The data revealed there were 1.75 million people aged 85 and over in mid‑2024, accounting for 2.5 per cent of the population, a figure expected to rise to 3.6 million, or 4.9 per cent, by mid‑2049.

Over the same period, the number of people of pensionable age was projected to increase from 12.4m to 15.3m, driven by longer life expectancy, the ageing of larger cohorts born in the 1960s, and lower birth rates.

Broadstone head of policy, David Brooks, warned that the UK’s ageing society will “put pressure on economic growth, public finances and systems like the NHS, as fewer workers support more retirees - inevitably raising questions about the long-term sustainability of the state pension”.

He explained that recent data had shown that “healthy life expectancy is falling in the UK, raising important questions around how well prepared the UK is to cope with the social and economic impacts of an ageing population”.

“Debates on single-issue matters like the state pension risk are missing more important issues around an ageing population.

"In practice, current policy trends are steadily shifting more risk onto individuals, and particularly onto workers and younger generations, who are being asked to save more, work longer, and manage more uncertainty over much longer lives.

“From a pension’s perspective,” he continued, “the core issue is not how much is spent, but how risk is allocated across generations, and at what point in the life cycle.

"Decisions about defaults, retirement pathways and flexibility increasingly determine who bears longevity, investment and later life risk – yet those intergenerational consequences are rarely made explicit.”

PensionBee VP personal finance, Maike Currie, added that the UK’s demographic dividend is turning into a "deepening demographic drag".

Commenting on the projections to 2034, Currie noted: “From mid-2026, deaths will outnumber births, leaving 450,000 more deaths than births by 2034. Population growth now relies entirely on migration.

“The age shift is stark: between mid-2024 and mid-2034, the number of people of pensionable age is set to rise by 1.8 million to 14.2 million - that's around one in five of the population, taking into account the planned increase in the state pension age to 67.

"Meanwhile, over the same period, the number of children is expected to fall from 12.6 million to 11 million, making up just 15.5 per cent of the population by mid-2034.

“For the pension system, this means fewer future workers supporting more retirees.

"With earlier figures showing a third of those leaving the UK, aged 16 to 34, the pension system faces a double hit: fewer contributors and more retirees, putting real strain on the state pension and long-term investment flows."

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