By IRNA,
London : The number of pensioners in Britain is set to rise by over a third in the next 30 years despite government plans to increase the age of retirement, according to new projected figures.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), there are currently 12 million pensioners in the UK, around a fifth of the total population, but the number will increase to over 16 million by 2040.
The figures show that the largest rise will be among men in closing the gender gap, increasing by three million to 7.4 million, while the number of women will only increase by 1.3 million to 8.8 million.
The current retirement age is 65 for men and 60 for women, but under government plans the age is set to gradually rise to 68 for men starting in 2024 and to 65 for women beginning next year.
The increases follow demographical changes with people generally living longer and concern about how the country will be able to afford a greater dependency population.
The DWP figures, published Thursday, also show that the number of people over 100 will virtually double or more every decade. It projected that there would be 12 centurions in 2010, rising to 22,000 by 2020, up to 59,000 in 2030, 155,000 in 2041 and 281,000 in 2050.