‘I’m one of the lucky ones, I’m financially OK’: welcome to ageing Britain, where pensioners outnumber children
As an hour-long exercise class in Cromer’s parish hall culminates in a triumphant ribbon routine, irrepressible instructor Annamarie Sterne addresses the group. “Has anyone got a knot?” One or two raise their hands, before another baffled attendee discovers she’s managed to swirl two knots into her ribbon. “How did that happen?!” she laughs.
The 40-strong class overwhelmingly made up of women over 65 – the oldest, Anne, 84, completed the entire routine – is a picture of health in older age. A few opt to exercise from a chair during the floor work, but everyone has put their all into the hour. “Their attitude is amazing,” says Sterne, who calls her class the “crème de la crème” of the north Norfolk town’s older population.
There should be little surprise at the demand for Sterne’s classes, and not just because of her infectious enthusiasm. One in three people in north Norfolk are now 65 or over, making it the oldest place in England and Wales in terms of the proportion of pension-age people.
Its leading status was revealed in new census data underlining what statisticians, economists and politicians have known for years: that Britain is ageing. There are now more people aged 65 and over in England and Wales than children aged under 15. The number of people aged over 64 has surged by 20% over the past decade in England and Wales, to 11.1 million people. Nearly one in five people are aged over 65.
The sweeping implications of this demographic revolution can scarcely be overestimated. From Tory pressure on Boris Johnson over tax and spend, to the crisis in ambulance waiting times, so many of the pressing issues of the day are being impacted by the large cohort of people who have worked their way into older age.
Despite years to
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