The growing ageing population “will add to pressure on the NHS, the state pension and the wider public finances”, said Stuart McDonald, head of longevity and demographic insights at pension consultants LCP.
“For the NHS, the challenge is not simply a larger population, but a larger population at ages associated with greater healthcare need.”
He added: “But for pensions, the projections will intensify an already difficult debate about whether people can realistically and fairly be expected to work longer.”
Sarah Scobie, Deputy Director of Research at the Nuffield Trust, warned end-of-life care services are “ill-prepared for an increase in deaths as the population ages overall”.
“Hospital care accounts for over 80% of public expenditure on health care for people in the last year of life, and most of that is spent on emergency care,” she said.