disability trends in an ageing population

by Kathryn Gilbertson
The structure of New Zealand’s population is rapidly changing. The “baby boomers” are fast approaching retirement age, which means that by the 2040s, the population aged 65+ will have doubled, and the proportion aged 85+ will have quadrupled.

My poster entry for this year’s EIDD Design for All competition aims to encourage people to think beyond a “typical user” – to realise the population is diverse with very different needs. This is quite a broad concept and should definitely be applied to thinking about the need of the elderly.

The use of health services rapidly increases with age. There is also a sharp increase in the prevalence of disability with increasing age.

Age related disabilities such as sensory impairments, arthritis and dementia put great demands on the health system. As New Zealand’s population quickly ages, imagine the issues that will arise for the health system in the near future. It is expected there will be an increase in hospital costs of 42%, and a 31% increase in primary care costs over the next two decades. Projections also show that expenditure on disability support services could increase by 77% by 2021 (since 2004). Read more about the impact of NZ’z ageing population on disability and health services in this Ministry of Health background paper. [right click here to download PDF]

More elderly people. Very soon. Statisics NZ puts the figure at 1.14 million people in New Zealand aged 65+ by 2051. That’s a fair few! Currently, a robotic solution to cope with demand in rest homes is being researched by Auckland University and a major Korean research institute. Documented in this TV3 news video, this solution may be less than ideal, but necessary. Plenty of other issues really need to be planned for: transport, housing, community support … the list goes on.