Population aspects of the dementias

In the United Kingdom then are some key facts which have implications for p olicies and services for people with dementia. The first group are to do wi th older people and their position in the total population. Overall the pop ulation of this country is projected to increase, but only by 0.2%. However , within that the population is ageing, i.e, the proportion of older people in the population is projected to increase and the proportion of very old people in the older population is also projected to increase. Also of signi ficance is that the population of working age is projected to decline. Seco nd gender and marital status are important variables. Third is the need to consider when people live. The two important facts here an that the proport ion of people living alone is increasing, and expected to grow further, and family patterns are changing. Both of these will have an effect on who is available to care. But we also need to look at the implications of populati on change in the EU which have implications for the UK. Some of the implica tions and issues of these population aspects are then discussed. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.