PENSIONERS will outnumber children within eight years but, as a result, there will be many more thousands of the elderly suffering ill-health, the Office of National Statistics reports.

In the past 30 years the number of people over 65 has risen by 28 per cent, while the number of under-16s dropped by 18 per cent. The average age of the population is now up from 34.1 to 38.4 years.

A Social Trends report published today reveals that the ageing population — attributed to the post-war baby boom — will put extra financial pressures on the NHS with health care costs for over-85s six times above the national average.

Life expectancy has risen, so that boys born in 2001 can expect to live to nearly 76 while girls should survive beyond 80.

The life span between men and women is narrowing. It was six years in 1981 but it was below five in 2001. This might be due to the drop in butter consumption — down from 148g a week in 1974 to 40g in 2003 — and a sharp fall in smoking.

The survey, a snapshot of modern Britain, found that in 1974 half of men and two out of five women smoked. In 2003 this fell to 28 and 24 per cent respectively, and lung cancer is no longer our top cancer.

But not everyone has switched from butter and lard to low-fat spreads. Nearly one in four is obese, a major transformation from the 1970s.

Changes to society under Margaret Thatcher resulted in the number of homeowners rising by 44 per cent between 1981 and 2003.

Britain’s first woman Prime Minister may also have had an impact on the disparity between men and women’s incomes. In 1971 women earned only 64 per cent of a man’s income. Now it is 82 per cent.

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