The UK’s over-90 population reached 625,000 in 2024 — a 53.7 per cent rise since 2004 — with men driving recent growth as their life expectancy improves faster than women’s.
The UK now has 625,000 people aged 90 or over, the figures show — up 53.7 per cent compared with 2004, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS says the rise is largely down to improving life expectancy, above all among men, with the number of men aged 90 and over having more than doubled between 2004 and 2024.
The ONS posted the data on social media, noting that men now make up approximately 33.8 per cent of the over-90 population and that the number of men aged 90 and over has more than doubled since 2004, rising from 98,000 to 211,000. The male share has grown because life expectancy for men has increased faster than for women, narrowing a long-standing gap. UK life expectancy at birth in 2019 to 2021 stood at 79.1 years for males and 83.0 years for females.
Historic birth patterns also play a part, the ONS says — the size of birth cohorts from decades past shapes how many people reach very old age today. And while long-term life expectancy has improved, the ONS notes that progress at ages 90 and over has been slower, with mortality rates in that group showing limited improvement in some periods.
Kent has one of England’s largest older populations. That matters here.
No Kent-specific figure was available in the ONS release, but the national trend points toward rising demand for domiciliary care, care home places, GP services, and hospital discharge support across the county. Kent County Council and NHS Kent and Medway ICB are among the organisations likely to feel that pressure most directly — though the scale of any local impact remains unquantified from the data published so far.
Source: @ONS