People living longer with ill health

The amount of years a person lives with ill heath has risen sharply, according to new research published today.

The Illustrating ageing in Ireland North and South report from Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland (Cardi) shows that in the republic the number of years a man can expect to live in poor health rose from 9.5 in 1999 to 14.7 in 2007.

The average women's likely period in bad health increased from 11.3 years to 16.8 years over the same period.

Northern Ireland has shown a slight improvement in healthy life, but still lags behind the rest of the United Kingdom in terms of both ill health and disability.

The new report show that since the 1920s in both the North and South, the number of years a man can expect to live has risen by about 20, while women have extended their average life spans by about 24-25 years.

Moreover, it forecasts that the number of people aged 65 and over will rise from 700,000 now ton nearly 1,900,000 in 2041. During the same time period, the number of people over the age of 85 will likely increase five-fold to 355,000.

Cardi said that these figures emphasise the need for further research to ensure that sufficient planning is undertaken to that adequate policies and services are in place for older people.

The organisation research also shows that older workers in Northern Ireland have been more successful in weathering the recession so far than their southern counterparts with the number of people over the age of 60 still in work north of the border rising through the first year of the downturn, while the number employed in the Republic fell by 7,000.