What do we mean by demographics?

Some of you will have heard politicians and council officers talking about demographics, particularly in relation to older people. So, I thought I would try and explain it and give some examples.

The definition from dictionary.com is "the statistical data of a population, especially those showing average age, income, education, etc. " often this relates to current data, but in the case of older people demographics is often used as part of the evidence base and in discussions around the forecasts for our ageing population.

I was shown this table the other day which provides a perfect example of demographics in Cambridgeshire in terms of increases in the older population.

Age	2012	2022	Increase
Total population aged 18-64	390,800	409,659	5%
People aged 65-69	33,700	35,608	6%
People aged 70-74	24,500	33,448	37%
People aged 75-79	19,700	28,175	43%
People aged 80-84	14,800	20,654	40%
People aged 85-89	9,200	13,234	44%
People aged 90 and over	5,500	9,502	73%
Total population 65 and over	107,400	140,620	31%
Total Cambridgeshire Population	498,200	550,279	10%

Let's be plain - this comes about largely (but not entirely) because people are living longer - that is a great thing.  But it also places a burden on social care services because we have to cope with an increasing  number of people who need support.  The challenge is how we deal with this in a world where we have less resource.  These demographics are also the reason why the need for urgent reform of Health and Social Care is being reinforced to Government.  Social Care is the biggest single item of spend in Cambridgeshire with a budget of around £188m.  This graph, known as the Barnet Graph of Doom, shows how by 2030 Barnet could have no money to spend on anything other than children and adults - so no highways, libraries or anything else!

I would challenge this slightly.  I believe there are ways we can get more efficient - for instance by making sure we are smarter with how we use technology to support vulnerable older people, and by being more preventative - for example by reducing isolation which has a huge impact on the health of older people (which is why our recently proposed Community Navigator scheme is important).

There are also bigger picture issues like better integration of health and social care to make it more seamless - which I think offers cost and service benefits (health care is provided via the NHS to provide support at home such as Occupational Therapy whereas Social Care provides basic services such as cleaning and is supported by the County Council and is sometimes charged for).

Interestingly, as I have been writing this I have been pointed to this interesting article about Health and Social Care, which explains some of the issues Nationally.