The State of Ageing 2025

Centre for Ageing Better has released their annual State of Ageing report which reveals millions more of us are living into our seventies, eighties, nineties and beyond, in decent health, working for longer and supporting our communities through volunteering and caring.

The report also highlights that a rosy, positive picture of ageing is unobtainable for many, such as those who are living in poor housing, in poverty and poor health, and who are isolated from their communities and society.

The new analysis shows the impact of regional inequalities that determine the quality of people’s later life. Quite simply, where you are born in England determines how you live and how well you age.

The regional differences in how we age accumulate over many years and can be seen in this report across health, employment, financial security and the state of our homes. The North-South health divide is particularly stark, with life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and other determinants of a healthy older age, looking very different. The gaps in health and wealth between people living in different regions are glaring:

• Where you are born in England is associated with how long you can expect to live: the life expectancy of men in Hart (Hampshire) is almost 10 years longer than for men in Blackpool, while a boy born in the North East can expect to live 74% of their life in good health compared with 80% in London.

• 2.3 million older people are living in homes that have an adverse effect on their health. And while the rate of non-decency is highest in the private rented sector, the absolute number of non-decent homes is highest in the owner-occupied sector: a total of 1.3 million homes owned by someone aged 55 and over are non-decent, with the highest number (212,000) seen in the North West.

• The employment rate gap or ‘age penalty’ (the gap in the employment rate between people aged 35 to 49 and those aged 50 to 65) is largest in the North East (19.8 percentage points), followed by London (19.1 percentage points). The gap is lowest in the North West (11.6 percentage points) and the South East (13.9 percentage points)

• Relative pensioner poverty rates vary across England, with the highest rates in Yorkshire and the Humber (20%), five percentage points higher than in the East Midlands and the South West.

Download the summary report

Download the technical report