The MAP2030 Research Group is funded under the New Dynamics of Ageing Programme. We are an inter-disciplinary team, bringing together experts in social policy, economics, demography, and medical science from 5 different institutions in the UK.

Background to the research

In the UK the number of people over state pension age is projected to rise by almost 40% in the next 25 years. The number aged 80 and over, where care needs are greatest, is set to nearly double. The financial, family, social and health resources of the older population have substantial implications for the well-being of those concerned and for public policy, but consistent projections of their likely future circumstances are lacking.

Aims and objectives of the research

MAP20303 aims to produce high quality analysis to inform public debate and the development of future long-term care and pension policy up to 2030.

Key issues being investigated include how trends in mortality and morbidity will evolve, and if the extra years of life will be lived in good health; the consequences of changes in family circumstances on the availability of informal sources of care and for older people's social participation; and the willingness and ability of people to save for their old age.

Statistical analyses are being conducted to increase our understanding of trends in the relationships between determinants of needs and resources: mortality, disease and disability; household/family formation and kinship; family support and the availability and need for informal care; need for formal care services; accumulation and distribution of income and assets in later life, and how they differ between socio-economic and income groups. Special attention is being given to the inter-relationships between care needs (and their determinants) and economic resources in later life and to the affordability, and distribution of costs and benefits of combined policy options for pensions and long-term care.

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