IntroductionUnited Kingdom has a population of over 65 million people and GDP ofapproximately USD $2.6 trillion. The UK provides public healthcare benefits to all itspermanent residents crossing 59 million people. The healthcare is available on need and iscompensated through general taxes. This comprises of approximately 5% of a person'sincome. The nation is currently grasped by the ‘biggest since its inception’ healthcarechallenge of providing care to its aging population as stated by Simon Stevens, chiefexecutive of NHS (National Health Service), England. The essay is focused on highlightingthis current healthcare crisis faced by United Kingdom highlighting the challenges involved,perspectives to the issue, possible solutions to the issue based on the evidence availablethrough secondary sources such as journals, articles, WHO reports etc.2
The Ageing Population of United KingdomThe elderly population is on the rise in the UK. Researchers have predicted that withthe fast aging trend, by the next century, there would be a huge increase in the number of100-year-olds in the nation. The recent estimates point out that the number of people over 60years could rise by 40% over the next 30 years, this remains disputed though. However, asper statistics, in the year 1995, people over 65 years old were over 9 million and by 2030, UKhas the prediction of this number crossing 13 million. In the year 1951, there were around300 people who were aged 100 years or older, however; by 2031, this number could cross40,000 people. Another important point to be noted here is that the fertility rate in women hasfallen. From this, we could deduce that there would be lesser people available to look afterthe elderly population later on. In 2040, it is expected that the working population ratiocompared to people over 65 could be just 2.1:1 by 2040 (Christensen et al., 2009).This picture is alarming as the problem persists around the globe. Say, in case ofChina itself, the elderly population is set to get double by 2027. All around the globe, owingto advances in technology, medical field, better access to medicines, health programs etc.people are living longer. This also points to the fact that the people suffering from age-relatedailments, critical diseases etc. with the lesser capacity of an immune system is increasing andso is the need for elderly care. The developing world is poised for an elderly population burst.The challengeTo adapt to the changing trend of Britain's aging population, pressure would definitelyfall on the economic, social as well as political facets of the population of UK (Kulik et al.,2014). This is so because of the elderly population's dependency on the working class of thesociety. It is hereby, important to clearly take note of the challenges as well opportunities this3
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