The Elderly in 2005: Health and Care

The first STG report to embody scenarios on population aging, health and care appeared in 1985. This report describes developments since 1985, reviewing the current position and setting out updated scenarios. The 1985 report set out three scenarios, in which the central focus was on the developing future pattern of demand for care by the elderly. The present report too sets out three scenarios, centring on the demand for care, in which account is taken of a variety of factors; it also details four strategic scenarios whose central focus is on the developing supply of care and which set supply and demand one against the other. Three of the strategic scenarios -- emphasizing respectively intramural, extramural and informal care -- suppose the demand for care to be met in full; the fourth scenario, which rolls current policies on the care of the elderly forward into the future, pinpoints discrepancies between the need for care and the extent to which that need is likely to be met, making clear in so doing that a review of long-term policy for the elderly is urgently needed.