Ageing population
Published on 28 November 2011 11:00 AM
Responding to recent media reports that the ageing population will put added pressure on public services across Wales, Victoria Lloyd, our Director of Influencing and Programme Development says:
"The ageing of our population is something that we celebrate - it is a testament to many of the achievements and advances made in the last century.
"This also poses some real challenges for our society and public services must look ahead and adapt to the needs of our future population.
"We need to concentrate on delivering services in ways that are sustainable in the longer term.
"In planning for the future, we also need to confront negative attitudes to ageing and challenge the language of crisis often used to describe the increasing numbers of older people.
"Most people know that we have an ageing population and that the population of Wales is ageing more rapidly than that of the rest of the UK.
"This is, in part, because of the numbers of people who are coming to Wales to retire.
"It is also a concern that more people are moving from Wales, which could possibly be an indicator that we need to look at the needs of our younger population as well."