Costa geriatica - coming soon to a suburb near you

The world is currently undergoing a demographic revolution of historic proportions. At no time in our history have there been so many old people around. In many countries old people now outnumber young people, a state of affairs that has never before existed in human history.

Today, the world's population includes more than 600 million people aged over 65, and by 2030 there will be at least one billion. Globally, old people are increasing at an annual rate almost twice that of the population as a whole and the fastest growing group are the oldest old, those aged over 80.

By 2050 more than 11 per cent of the world's population or 1 billion people will be aged over 70 including 21 per…