Households with over-85s could jump to 1.5million

THE number of households in England where the oldest person is aged 85 and over is projected to jump by nearly half a million in a decade, at the same time as a drop of 600,000 in households with children, figures suggest.

- IAN JONES

Households with someone over 85 could increase by 42.3% in a decade, figures suggest

(Joe Giddens/PA)

A growing proportion of households are also projected to contain just one person, reflecting an ageing population and a likely decline in fertility rates.

The findings have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of new projections of the future number of households in England - the first of their kind for five years.

The figures show that, on existing trends, total households in England rise by 10.3% from 23.5 million in mid-2022 to 25.9 million in mid-2032, with an average of 242,000 additional households per year.

This is a faster rate of increase than the previous set of projections, published in 2020, which suggested an average of 158,000 additional households per year over the same period.