Ten million Britons will see their 100th year
By politics.co.uk staff
New figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) highlight growing concerns over the UK’s ageing population.
The figures released today show approximately one-sixth of people currently alive in Britain will live beyond 100 years.
Pensions minister Steve Webb said: “These staggering figures really bring home how important it is to plan ahead for our later lives.
“Many millions of us will be spending around a third of our lives or more in retirement.
“That’s why we are reforming the pension system to make it sustainable for the long term, making sure people can look forward to a decent state pension when they retire, and helping millions save into a workplace pension, many for the first time.”
The government is looking to push through radical reform on public sector pensions to drive down spiralling costs.
Measures such as replacing final salary schemes with ones based on average lifetime earnings with higher rates of contribution among those mooted in Lord Hutton’s report.
The DWP figures, based on Office of National Statistics (ONS) projections, also raised concern over the urgency of possible strains caused by the ageing population.
Of the ten million expected to reach their 100th year, 2.2 million are already over 50.
Fifty years from now, over half a million people are expected to be aged over 100, compared to just 12,000 now.
The increasing strain on pension funds and the health service have increased calls for people to retire later in order to strengthen the UK tax base.
