Demographics

The term ‘elderly’ refers to the oldest age group of the population. The age-range represented by this group has varied with the changing morbidity and mortality of both time and circumstances. Modern terminology also sometimes refers to the elderly, the aged and the extreme aged, relating to those over 65–70, 80 and 90, respectively. Key points on life expectancy at birth include:

• Early humans had an average lifespan of 20 years (reckoned from skeletal remains).

• At the beginning of the nineteenth century, in industrialized countries, life expectancy was 48 years. It has since improved by a reduction in deaths from infectious and parasitic diseases, poor nutrition and childbearing.

• More recently mortality from degenerative diseases, particularly heart disease and stroke, has fallen and deaths due to cancer have shown a modest reduction. Importantly, disability among the elderly has decreased (from 25% to 17% over the last 50 years in the USA) suggesting that longer life in old age is due to improved health, rather than merely prolonged survival with increasing disability.

Overall UK life expectancy at birth in 2002 was 75 years for males and 80 years for females. Reflecting these demographic changes, the term ‘elderly’ has changed from referring to those over 50 years in the early twentieth century, those over 65 years some 20 years ago, to those over 70 years currently.