---

Population, Midyear 2022: 67,508,936
Population Density (Number of Persons per Square Kilometer): 278.11
Life Expectancy at Birth, 2022: 82.16
Projected Population, Midyear 2030: 69,175,770
Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2022: 19.17%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2030: 22.02%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2050: 26.15%

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2023). Data Portal, custom data acquired via website. United Nations: New York. Accessed 12 May 2023.

---

Percent of Adults Aged 65 Years and Over Reporting To Be In Good Or Very Good Health (2015): 52.9%
People With Dementia Per 1,000 Population (2017): 17.1
Projected Number of People With Dementia Per 1,000 Population in 2037: 24.5
Long-Term Care Workers Per 100 People Aged 65 And Over (2015): NA
Long-Term Care Beds In Institutions and Hospitals Per 1,000 Population Aged 65 And Over (2015): 47.6
Long-Term Care Expenditure (Health and Social Components) By Government and Compulsory Insurance Schemes, as a Share of GDP (%) (2015): 1.5%

Source: OECD (2017), Health at a Glance 2017: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris. dx.doi.org/10.1787/health_glance-2017-en

---

Formal Long-Term Care Workers At Home (FTE) (2017): NA
Formal Long-Term Care Workers In Institutions (FTE) (2017): NA
Long-Term Care Recipients In Institutions Other Than Hospitals (2017): NA
Long-Term Care Recipients At Home (2017): NA

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD.Stat. Last accessed April 22, 2022.

---

“Long-term care in the United Kingdom is a blend of health and social care, provided in a combination of residential/institutional care and care provided in the community within people’s homes (Cylus et al., 2015). The NHS funds long-term care for patients with “complex health needs”, through schemes such as NHS Continuing Health care in England, and Hospital-Based Complex Clinical Care in Scotland. However, the NHS will not fund “nonhealth care” aspects of long-term care, known as social care, which is funded through a mixture of public and private funds according to varying eligibility criteria across the United Kingdom’s constituent countries (see Section 3.4.2, Direct payments). The distinction between long-term non-health care and long-term health care needs is dependent upon a multidisciplinary assessment that takes account of the intensity and complexity of the support required across a series of care domains (Department of Health & Social Care, 2018b). Long-term care is provided to older people; people with physical disabilities, frailty and sensory impairment; people with learning disabilities; people with mental health problems; people who misuse substances and to other vulnerable people.”

---

“Informal or unpaid care is that which is provided to family members, partners, friends or others who are suffering from a long-term illness or disability, or who have problems relating to old age. In 2020, it was estimated that around 9.1 million people in the United Kingdom are unpaid (so-called “informal”) carers, notably family members, providing unpaid care support (Carers Week,128 Health Systems in Transition2020). During the COVID-19 pandemic, this increased to over 13.6 million people. It is also known that the United Kingdom has a relatively high reliance on unpaid carers compared with most other high-income countries (OECD, 2019b). The last census of unpaid carers in England and Wales in 2011 revealed that 63% of unpaid carers provided less than 20 hours of care per week, 14% provided 20–49 hours of care per week, and 23% provided 50 or more hours of care per week (ONS, 2013). Some 58% of these carers are women and 42% are men. They perform a wide range of tasks, including personal care, emotional and practical support and monitoring of medications. Unpaid carers make a fundamental contribution to the health and social care sector, and estimates of the financial value of this contribution in the United Kingdom varies from £57 billion (€67 billion) to £132 billion (€156 billion) (Buckner & Yeandle, 2015).

“Most carers intrinsically value the opportunities to provide care and may not even self-identify as carers (Carduff et al., 2014). However, there is significant evidence that the intensity of provision of informal care is associated with poorer physical and mental health (Roth, Fredman & Haley, 2015). Projections of supply and demand of unpaid carers suggest a widening gap, reaching 2.3 million unpaid carers in England by 2035 (Brimblecombe et al., 2018). However, these projections were undertaken before the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased the burden on unpaid carers with negative effects on their mental health, and therefore it is possible that this gap may have increased further (Dunn et al., 2021). There have been efforts to identify informal carers, and to provide them with information and training. England developed a carers strategy in 2008 and passed the 2014 Care Act, and Scotland passed the 2016 Carers (Scotland) Act. In Wales, the 2014 Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act, and in Northern Ireland, the 2002 Carers and Direct Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 2002, cover the rights of unpaid carers. Under these legislations, carers have a legal right to needs assessment and support. This requires local authorities or health and social care trusts to assess carers’ needs for support if they appear to have such needs. Informal carers can receive assessments of their needs, breaks from caring (in the form of daycare services for the individual requiring care and short-term institutional respite care), services for the person being cared for to ease the burden on the carer, and Jobcentre (the working-age employment support service) support so that carers can update their skills and knowledge level if they want to obtain employment while caring. Despite legislation, the provision of respite support for unpaid carers in England has been restricted, reducing from around 57 000 recorded instances in 2015/2016 to 42 300 in 2018/2019 (NHS Digital, 2019).

“The Carer’s Allowance, worth £67.60 (€80) per week in 2021/2022, is available to all carers in the United Kingdom, but it has strict eligibility requirements: the carer must provide care for 35 hours or more per week; the person being cared for has to be significantly disabled according to their own disability benefit; the carer must be over 16 years and not in full-time school; and the carer must not earn more than £128 (€151) per week or receive most other types of benefit (UK Government, 2021i).”

---

World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and sixteen other nations.

---

Page last updated July 16, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.