We are all getting older, both as individuals and as a nation. Thanks to advances made over the last century, we have moved from a world in which a lucky minority live to spend a few precious months in retirement, to one in which most of us can expect to enjoy up to a third of our lives after work. By 2020, half the population of Britain will be over 50.
This demographic shift poses immense challenges for policymakers, businesses, charities and wider society. But we will make a fundamental mistake if we simply look at the ageing population as a burden rather than an opportunity.
There is no demographic timebomb facing the UK. Indeed, state spending on pensions and benefits will actually decline per head of the pensioner population over the next few decades, remaining a low six per cent of our national wealth. And the ageing of our workforce could be offset simply through a 0.25 per cent increase in the number of older workers, at a time when older people are keen to work.
"There are currently more than a million unemployed people over 50 who could potentially be in work. If they were all in jobs, up to £30 billion could be added to gross domestic product."
By worrying about a mythical burden, we miss the enormous contribution that older people make - as citizens, as consumers and as individuals. Despite high poverty rates, the over 50s are the most important consumers in the UK, owning up to 80 per cent of national wealth. They also provide vital support across generations - if the unpaid care of grandparents was provided by paid childminders, it would cost around £3.9 billion every year.
We must respond to the challenge of an ageing population by releasing the contribution of millions of older people. Rather than trapping older people in poverty, our economy needs older people to be active consumers. Instead of forcing older people into care, our public services must offer choice and prolong people's independence. And rather than exiling the over 50s from the workforce, employers must harness the talents of older workers. There are currently more than a million unemployed people over 50 who could potentially be in work. If they were all in jobs, up to £30 billion could be added to gross domestic product (GDP).
Growing rates of poverty and unemployment among older people would not just damage quality of life, it would create economic stagnation and mean those in work would face higher bills to pay for services and benefits.
A failure to build public services would not just hurt the most vulnerable, it would make it harder for many older people to stay healthy and independent, creating additional demands on families and adding to the cost of acute services faced by hospitals and social services departments. And a failure to dismantle ageist barriers would not just deny older people fair access to education, employment and public services, it would damage our economy.
The nation we know today is one that we have built from past choices, and so the choices we make today will create the nation we live in tomorrow. We now have the opportunity to face the challenge of an ageing population head-on with a planned approach, or muddle through and hope for the best. The latter would have disastrous consequences for all of us.