Britain is growing - and getting older

People 65 and older outnumber those under 16 for the first time while the government ponders questions of immigration and healthcare.

In the past decade, the number of foreign-born mothers giving birth in the United Kingdom has doubled.

LONDON // Old people now outnumber children in Britain for the first time in history. The rapidly changing face of society in the United Kingdom, which now has a record population of more than 61 million, is reflected in latest government figures. One report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) not only shows that there are more people older than 65 in the UK than there are children younger than 16, but also that the population as a whole is increasing by one million every three years.

The main reason for growth is record levels of immigration. Last year, 605,000 long-term migrants arrived in the country compared to 591,000 the year before. Poland, India, the Slovak Republic and Pakistan were the most common countries of origin. The reports said that the reason for the increase in over-60s was simply attributable to people living longer because of healthier lifestyles and medical advances.

The effects, they said, would be felt even more keenly in coming years when the post-war 'baby boom' generation reaches pensionable age. Meanwhile, fewer children had been born in the past 16 years to British-born women, though this downturn in the birth rate was now being reversed because of the recent influx of immigrants of child-bearing age. There were also 187,000 more births than there were deaths last year, with babies born to mothers originally from outside the UK now accounting for almost one-quarter of the total.

In the past decade, the number of foreign-born mothers giving birth in the United Kingdom has almost doubled from 84,497 in 1997 to 160,340 last year. In London, more than half of babies had mothers born overseas with the figure rising to 75 per cent in Newham, a borough in London's East End. "There are more women of childbearing age due to the inflow of female migrants in recent years,'' said Guy Goodwin, director of population, health and regional analysis at the ONS. "Yesterday's migrants as well as today's migrants are contributing to population growth."

The Annual Population Survey shows a little more than 10 per cent of the UK population - about 6.3m people - were born overseas, with India, Ireland and Poland being the top three non-UK countries of birth. But there were not only record numbers of people arriving in Britain - there were record numbers leaving, too. Last year, 406,000 people left the United Kingdom, with native Britons comprising the largest group followed by Poles and other eastern Europeans returning home as the economy turned down.

Dominic Grieve, the Conservative Party's shadow home secretary, accused Gordon Brown's government of failing to manage properly the country's immigration system. "With births to foreign mothers becoming such a large driver of population growth, it is vital that immigration levels are set taking into account the ability of our schools, hospitals and other local services to cope," he told the BBC. "With the number of migrants arriving from the new EU countries now approaching one million, the government's estimate that a maximum of just 13,000 migrants a year would arrive from these countries is woeful.

"Labour must realise that immigration can benefit the country, but only if it is properly controlled." However, a spokesman for the Home Office said that the government was already in the throes of "the biggest shake-up to the immigration system for a generation". "Centre-stage is our new Australian-style points-based system, which means only those we need can come here to work or study," he said.

"Migrants contribute to the economy, putting more into the exchequer purse than they take out, so it is vital we take the social impact of migration into account when we make migration decisions. "We will also ask migrants to pay a little extra towards a fund of tens of millions of pounds to help services deal with the short-term pressures of migration." The pressures associated with Britain's ageing population are not nearly so short term. The number of people of pensionable age (60 for women, 65 for men) now accounts for almost one-fifth of the UK's population - 11.58m compared to 11.5m children younger than 16.

And those in their eighties now account for the country's fastest growing age group, now amounting to 2.7m people and representing fresh and increasing challenges for medical and social care. "The government must face up to the reality of an ageing population and make a firm commitment to improve health services, like mental health and foot care, which enable people to stay healthy and independent for longer," said Gordon Lishman, a spokesman for the Age Concern charity.

Mervyn Kohler, special adviser at Help the Aged, said the figures highlighted the need for companies to invest in training older people to work beyond the normal retirement age. If that did not happen, he said, Britain would end up supporting a costly dependency culture among the elderly. He also said there needed to be changes and improvements in everything from house design to public transport to allow older people to live independent lives.

Mr Kohler said the United Kingdom was facing a "huge time-bomb" of age-related dementia. "There will have to be a massive investment in research into dementia," he said. "If we don't crack that, we are going to find ourselves with a huge number of people suffering from dementia and the costs will be enormous." @Email:[e-mail]