Society & PopulationUK edition
The share of UK residents aged 65 and over, 2018 to 2025
People aged 65 and over made up 19.7% of the UK population in 2025, up from 18.26% in 2018, and the share was higher in every year in between.
- 201818.26%
- 201918.46%
- 202018.61%
- 202118.72%
- 202218.93%
- 202319.24%
- 202419.5%
- 202519.7%
UK Share of population aged 65+ →
What the latest figure says
For an ordinary household, the latest figure means that just under one in five people living in the UK are now aged 65 or over. In 2025, this age group made up 19.7% of the total population.
Sources for this paragraph (1)
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
Seven years earlier, in 2018, the share was 18.26%. The 2025 figure is higher.
Sources for this paragraph (2)
- F1 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.26% · 2018 · World Bank
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
Year by year: the official figures
The measure is the population aged 65 and above as a percentage of the total population. It is an annual figure, and each value covers one calendar year.
Sources for this paragraph (2)
- F1 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.26% · 2018 · World Bank
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
The share was 18.26% in 2018, 18.46% in 2019 and 18.61% in 2020. It then reached 18.72% in 2021 and 18.93% in 2022.
Sources for this paragraph (5)
- F1 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.26% · 2018 · World Bank
- F2 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.46% · 2019 · World Bank
- F3 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.61% · 2020 · World Bank
- F4 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.72% · 2021 · World Bank
- F5 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.93% · 2022 · World Bank
The rise continued after that. The share stood at 19.24% in 2023, 19.5% in 2024 and 19.7% in 2025.
Sources for this paragraph (3)
- F6 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.24% · 2023 · World Bank
- F7 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.5% · 2024 · World Bank
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
How 2025 compares with earlier years
Across the eight annual figures from 2018 to 2025, each year's share was higher than the one before. The series never fell or stayed flat in this period.
Sources for this paragraph (8)
- F1 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.26% · 2018 · World Bank
- F2 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.46% · 2019 · World Bank
- F3 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.61% · 2020 · World Bank
- F4 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.72% · 2021 · World Bank
- F5 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.93% · 2022 · World Bank
- F6 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.24% · 2023 · World Bank
- F7 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.5% · 2024 · World Bank
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
The yearly steps were not all the same size. The move from 18.93% in 2022 to 19.24% in 2023 was larger than the move from 18.61% in 2020 to 18.72% in 2021.
Sources for this paragraph (4)
- F3 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.61% · 2020 · World Bank
- F4 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.72% · 2021 · World Bank
- F5 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.93% · 2022 · World Bank
- F6 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.24% · 2023 · World Bank
The facts provided do not include figures for other countries, so this analysis cannot say whether the UK's share is high or low by international standards.
Sources for this paragraph (1)
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
What it means for people in the UK
For people living in the UK, the figures describe a population in which older residents form a steadily larger part. In 2025, 19.7% of residents were aged 65 or over, compared with 18.26% in 2018.
Sources for this paragraph (2)
- F1 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 18.26% · 2018 · World Bank
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
The data shows the size of the age group as a share of everyone. It does not show how this affects pensions, health services, care, housing or the workforce, so those effects cannot be judged from these figures alone.
Sources for this paragraph (1)
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
What the data does not tell us
The figure is a percentage, not a headcount. It does not say how many people are aged 65 or over, or whether a change in the share comes from more older people, fewer younger people, or both.
Sources for this paragraph (1)
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
The dataset also includes a population growth figure of 0.3% for 2025 and a fertility rate of 1.55 births per woman for 2024. These are separate statistics with their own definitions. The facts here do not show how either one relates to the share aged 65 and over, so they should not be read side by side as if they measured the same thing.
Sources for this paragraph (3)
- C27 United Kingdom Population growth (annual %) · 0.3% · 2025 · World Bank
- C25 United Kingdom Fertility rate, total (births per woman) · 1.55 · 2024 · World Bank
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
The series ends in 2025. It gives no figure for 2026 and offers no official projection.
Sources for this paragraph (1)
- F8 United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) · 19.7% · 2025 · World Bank
Scenarios to watch
- Scenario, not a forecast If the next annual figure is higher than 19.7%, older residents will make up a larger share of the UK population than in any year in this series.
- Scenario, not a forecast If the next annual figure is at or below 19.7%, it would break the run of yearly increases seen from 2018 to 2025. A headcount breakdown would then be needed to see why.
What to check next
- The next annual release of the population aged 65 and above as a share of the total, to see whether it is above or below 19.7%.
- Official headcounts of the population by age group, which would show whether the number of older people, younger people, or both are changing.
- Any official population projections, which would give a sourced view of future years rather than an assumption.
Verified data used in this report
| Indicator | Value | Period | Sources | Accessed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) | 18.26% | 2018 | World Bank | |
| F2 | United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) | 18.46% | 2019 | World Bank | |
| F3 | United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) | 18.61% | 2020 | World Bank | |
| F4 | United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) | 18.72% | 2021 | World Bank | |
| F5 | United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) | 18.93% | 2022 | World Bank | |
| F6 | United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) | 19.24% | 2023 | World Bank | |
| F7 | United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) | 19.5% | 2024 | World Bank | |
| F8 | United Kingdom Population aged 65 and above (% of total population) | 19.7% | 2025 | World Bank | |
| C23 | United Kingdom GDP growth (annual %) | 1.39% | 2025 | World Bank | |
| C24 | United Kingdom Unemployment, total (% of labour force, ILO modelled estimate) | 4.75% | 2025 | World Bank | |
| C25 | United Kingdom Fertility rate, total (births per woman) | 1.55 | 2024 | World Bank | |
| C27 | United Kingdom Population growth (annual %) | 0.3% | 2025 | World Bank | |
| C28 | United Kingdom central bank policy rate (month-end) | 3.75% | 2026-09 | Bank of England | |
| C29 | United Kingdom consumer price inflation (12-month change) | 3.5% | 2026-09 | Office for National Statistics (UK) | |
| C30 | United Kingdom CPIH inflation, including owner occupiers' housing costs (12-month change) | 3.6% | 2026-09 | Office for National Statistics (UK) | |
| C31 | United Kingdom food price inflation (12-month change) | 1.3% | 2026-09 | Office for National Statistics (UK) | |
| C32 | United Kingdom unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) | 4.7% | 2026-07 | Office for National Statistics (UK) | |
| C33 | United Kingdom average weekly earnings growth (3-month average, 12-month change) | 3.7% | 2026-08 | Office for National Statistics (UK) |
Sources
How this report was checked
- Data: the newest reference period cited is 2026-09.
- Figures were collected from the source on
- Written by an AI model (claude-opus-5-5) using only the official figures listed in this report.
- Automatic checks passed: every number matches a cited figure, every paragraph names its evidence, and there is no investment advice or copied source text.
- A separate quality-check model found no unsupported or speculative sentences.
- No person reviewed this report before publication. Automatic checks confirm the numbers, not every interpretation.
Update history
- 2026-10-30 11:01 UTC — created
- 2026-10-30 11:01 UTC — approved+published