The Impact of Population Ageing on Housing in Scotland

The impact of population ageing both at Scotland and the UK level will be considerable for Scotland’s housing system. A system that currently supports an over 65 population of 856,000 people will have to cope with 1.408 million by 2033. In addition, the working age section of the population is in decline both absolutely and relatively, which will mean fewer people to provide both formal and informal support to older people. The consequences of this for housing are not well understood at present, however a variety of pressure points particularly in relation to certain types of housing and support for older people to remain at home are considered in this paper.