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Equality in Scotland - Older People
Contents
1. Population estimates and projections (1998-based)
for Scotland; by age group: 1984-2019
2. Care of Older People in Scotland: 1980
to 1999
3. Death rates: by gender, cause and age,
Scotland 1998
4. Housing tenure by age of highest income
householder, Scotland 1999
5. Duration of unemployment by age, Scotland:
Spring 2000
6. Claimants and recipients of benefits in Scotland,
aged over 50, by gender
7. Households with low income in Scotland, 1988/89
to 1998/99
8. Percentage of respondents feeling very unsafe
when walking alone in their area after dark
9. Access to private car by age of highest
income householder, Scotland 1999
10. 10 most popular sports for those aged 55
and over, Scotland 1997-99
11. Percentage of current smokers and estimated
mean weekly alcohol units for current drinkers by age and gender, 1995
Further Information
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Percentage of people in Scotland over state pension age1
by council area 1999
Source: General Register Office for Scotland
1 State pension age: men aged 65 and over, women aged 60 and over.
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- In June 1999, 18% of Scotland's population were of pensionable age. Current
projections suggest that by 2019, 23% of Scotland's population will be of
pensionable age (figure 1).
- In 1999 the expectation of life at birth was 73 for males and 78 for females.
For those aged 65, the expectation was 14 additional years for men and 17
for women (General Register Office for Scotland).
- The most common cause of death for men and women in Scotland aged over 50
is cancer (figure 3).
- The 2 most common reasons for visiting the doctor in Scotland are hypertension,
followed by lower respiratory tract infections, for those aged over 65 (ISD
of NHS, 1999).
- In 1996 of the 565,000 pensioner households in Scotland, 332,000 (60%) spent
more than 10% of their household income on fuel. (Scottish House Condition
Survey, 1996).
- In 2000 in Scotland, 45% of unemployed people aged 50-59/64 had been unemployed
for over 2 years, compared to 19% of all unemployed people of working age
(figure 5).
- At May 2000 in Scotland, 20% of people aged 70 or over claimed income support
(figure 6).
- At May 1998 in Scotland, 28% and 37% of those aged 70 and over claimed housing
benefit and council tax benefit respectively.
- Benefits (including retirement pension and income support), accounted for
76% of Scottish pensioner households' gross weekly income in 1998-99, compared
to 21% of all Scottish households' gross weekly household income (Family Resources
Survey).
- In 1998-99 in Scotland, 26% of pensioners lived in households with income
60% below median income compared to the 21% of children and working age adults
that lived in households 60% below median income (figure 7).
- In 1999 in Scotland, 4% of households where the highest income householder
was aged 60 or over had access to the internet from home, compared to 20%
of households where the highest income householder was aged under 60 (Scottish
Household Survey).
- Participation in sport by those aged 55 and over in Scotland is dominated
by 5 activities: walking 2+ miles (24%), swimming (10%), bowls (9%), dancing
(7%) and golf (7%); (figure 10).
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