A futures perspective on how we make the UK the best country to grow old in.

The speed at which the world is changing is both inspiring and alarming. We know more; we do more; there’s simply more in the world as we accumulate more ‘stuff’. We’ve even invented a whole other world we can retreat to, just in case the business of life gets too boring: the digital world – literally a new dimension to modern life.

So how do we even begin to contemplate the future? This is the task that Independent Age, together with the International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC-UK), has set itself in putting together this report. Futurology conjures up madcap ideas; visions of unimaginable technological creativity and mind-warping innovation. Yet if we really want to look to the future and take the necessary steps as a society to create better conditions for future generations of older people, we should look at the trends we can predict, the “known knowns”, as former US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, would have it.
We know, for example, that we are living longer: one piece of evidence presented to Parliament suggests that 50% of people born in 2007 will live to 103. And the number of people aged 60 or over is expected to pass the 20 million mark by 2031- from nearly 20% of the total population at present to 28% in 2030.
So will the UK become a better or worse country for older people?

This report was launched at a breakfast debate in the House of Lords: ‘One year on: Are we ready to make the UK the best country to grow old in?’.