ABSTRACT
In 1951, the population of Great Britain totalled 49-2 million; of these, 6,662,000 (13-6 per cent) were people over retiring age. By 1977, the estimated total population had risen to 54-4 million, with people of pensionable age numbering 9,419,000 or 17-3 per cent. * These figures are evidence of a dramatic change in the balance of the population over a comparatively short space of time, and reflect the advances in environmental health, preventive medicine and the treatment of disease that have taken place throughout the century. Considerably more young children can now expect to reach old age than was the case at the beginning of the century, as Table 2.1 demonstrates (OPCS, 1979, table 82). The figures relate to Great Britain.
