Is the UK population ageing?

Yes. The median age of the UK population rose to 40.9 years in mid-2025, and the number of people aged 65 and over increased in every UK nation in the year to mid-2025, continuing what the ONS calls the long-term trend of an ageing population (mid-year estimates, 1 October 2026). Wales (43.2) and Scotland (43.1) have older populations than England and Northern Ireland (40.6).

The ONS 2024-based national population projections show people of State Pension age rising by 1.8 million, from 12.4 million to 14.2 million, between mid-2024 and mid-2034. They also project more deaths than births in the UK from mid-2026.

When checking figures for "pensioners", note whether a claim uses age 65 or State Pension age, which is rising to 67. The detailed age breakdowns are in the population estimates.

Official sources: ONS: mid-year population estimates (latest) · ONS: national population projections (latest)

The latest figure

The newest value is at Office for National Statistics (ONS). More on it: Life expectancy at birth (UK).

When is the next figure out?

Annual, usually in the autumn or December; the 2022 to 2024 tables were published on 10 December 2025 and the next release date was to be announced. Each table covers three consecutive years

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Healthy life expectancy
  The average number of years a person can expect to live in good health, based on current death rates and people's own rating of their health.
• Dependency ratio
  The number of people of pension age, or of children and pensioners, compared with the number of people of working age.
• Cohort
  A group of people who share a starting point, such as being born in the same year or starting school together, followed over time.
• Mean
  The total of all values divided by how many there are. Often what people mean by 'average', it can be pulled up or down by a few extreme values.
• Age-standardised rate
  A rate adjusted to a standard population age structure, so that places or years with older or younger populations can be compared fairly.
• Great Britain and the United Kingdom
  Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom is Great Britain plus Northern Ireland. Some statistics cover only one or the other.

Where the figures come from

• UK population and vital statistics (ONS, National Records of Scotland and NISRA)
  Where to find official UK figures on births, fertility, baby names, marriage, divorce, households, population estimates, projections and the census.

Related questions

• What are the UK population projections?
• What is the life expectancy in the UK?
• How many people get the State Pension?

This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about population, births and families: all Population, births and families questions.