Britain’s grey towns: find out if you will be living in a pensioner-dominated area within 20 years
Its no surprise to me that these towns are almost all in rural settings. There is a distinctive demography to many of our rural service centres which provides a unique opportunity and challenge for how we support their development. This story tells us:
Britain is facing a “pensioner” explosion with some areas forecast to see their numbers of elderly expand to up to 90 per cent of their adult populations.
Traditional coastal and rural towns and villages dominate the new “grey” hotspots ranging from West Somerset and West Dorset in the west of England, North Norfolk and Suffolk in the East and Scarborough, Fylde, Ryedale and South Lakeland in the North.
The number of men and women aged over 65 is expected to increase by 40 per cent by 2041 to more than 14 million, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The biggest rise will be among those aged over 90 where numbers will more than double from 500,000 to 1.2 million in two decades…