ABSTRACT
As noted above, there has, until recently, been a steady increase in the proportion of the GDP of the advanced industrial nations devoted to welfare services. This gradual increase was the result of a number of forces. One of the most important forces has been demographic pressures, for these have increased the size of the client groups for many welfare services. Of particular significance has been the increase in the absolute numbers and proportions of the total population of persons over retirement age (see Table 1.4). The increase in the very elderly population aged 75 and above has put the greatest pressures upon social services, for it is this section of the elderly who experience the greatest incidence of sickness and disability. This growth in the proportions of the very elderly has led to increased demands for community-based forms of care such as home nurses, meals-on-wheels and health visitors. However, the problem of old age should not be exaggerated. In the UK, for example, the proportion of the population over 65 is currently about 16 per cent and is set to continue at this level until the 2020s and 2030s, when the ‘baby boom’ generation born in the 1950s and 1960s reaches retirement age.
