Number Of Elderly NI People Growing

There are more octogenarians around and many are living longer than ever before.

Some 29,000 people aged 85 years or more are now living in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has released detailed single year of age population estimates of the number of persons aged 85-years and over in Northern Ireland.

The figures showed that in June 2009, 28,700 people or around 1.6% of the population were aged 85-years and over and that the population aged 85 and over has increased by 5,100 people (+22%) in the seven year period between June 2002 and June 2009.

The NISRA data showed that the 85s and over figure has grown four times faster than the overall population (22% growth for those aged 85 and over, against 5% growth for the whole population) and within the population aged 85 and over, women significantly outnumber men at 70% of this population group.

It is estimated that in June 2009 there were just under 200 centenarians (those aged 100 and over) living in Northern Ireland, with the number of centenarians living in Northern Ireland having increased by around 50% since June 2002 while by 2021, the number of persons aged 85 and over in NI is projected to increase by 67% to 47,900 persons.

Going further into the future, by 2033 the population aged 85 and over is projected to account for 4% of the total population (or one person in every 25).

(BMcC/GK)