The latest estimates for elderly people published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that more men are living to the age of 100 and beyond. In 2004, males accounted for only 10.9 percent of people aged 100 and over, but by 2024, this figure had risen to 18.4 percent, nearly one in five.
While the majority of the UK’s elderly population continue to be women, the gender balance has shifted over time, with some 210,520 males estimated to be aged 90 or over in 2024, more than double the number two decades earlier in 2004, which was 97,570.
The ONS says that changes in the gender balance of the UK’s older population are “largely explained by improvements in life expectancy and historic birth patterns… Life expectancy is higher for women, but life expectancy for men has increased faster than that for women, so the gap is narrowing.
“This has led to the number of older men growing faster than the number of older women.”
Spike
The population aged 100 and over rose sharply in both 2020 and 2021, reflecting a spike in babies born in the years immediately after the end of the First World War in 1918. Factors driving the trend include improvements in living standards and public health, along with advances in medical treatments.
There were 24.0 centenarians per 100,000 people in the UK in 2024, up from 13.9 per 100,000 in 2004. The rate varies across the country, with Wales having the highest figure last year, at 25.9 centenarians per 100,000 people, followed by England (24.7), Scotland (18.4) and Northern Ireland (15.3). The lower figure for Northern Ireland is explained by higher fertility rates causing a younger population, rather than differences in life expectancy, the ONS said.
While it’s good news that more people are living for longer, this raises issues about how to fund care for the elderly. The pensions industry, for instance, points out that the ‘triple lock’ principle used to calculate state pension payments, with the state pension rises by earnings growth, inflation, or 2.5%, whichever is higher, may become unsustainable. The state pension is likely to rise by 4.8% next April.
But increasing numbers of pensioners claiming state pensions for longer time periods are pushing up the state pension bill, a crucial issue for government. Apart from reforming the triple lock mechanism, the government could also decide to push ahead the timetable for state pension age rises.
Private pension schemes will also have to respond, with people hoping to retire at 66 having to prepare for the prospect of generating a retirement income that could last 35 years or more. The effects of inflation on a pension pot will also have to be taken into account.
Office for National Statistics (ONS), released 21 October 2025, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Estimates of the very old, including centenarians, UK: 2002 to 2024
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