MORE THAN half of the girls born in Ireland today will live to the age of 100 and beyond, a European Commission seminar on ageing heard in Dublin yesterday.
Dr Patricia Kearney of Trinity College Dublin said that ageing on this scale was "an unprecedented phenomenon in human history", and would have significant consequences for society.
She said over-65-year-olds would account for up to 25 per cent of the population by 2036, with the greatest increase in the over-80-year-old category.
Dr Kearney is working on the State's first longitudinal study on ageing which will follow 10,000 Irish people over the age of 50 years to chart their health, social and economic circumstances over 10 years.
She said the findings would play a key role in planning for our ageing population.
The seminar also heard that public spending on health and long-term care would have doubled by 2050.
Dr Brenda Gannon, from the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology at NUI Galway, said it was end-of-life care, rather than ageing, that was leading to the increased costs.
She pointed out that only 39 per cent of those aged 55 to 65 were working.
She added that if this percentage was to be increased, incentives were required to encourage older people to continue working.
