Impact of the 'demographic timebomb'

In my key note introduction to the AMA Symposium 2003 'What’s going on with audiences' (May 2003) I highlighted a number of future trends that were likely to have an impact on the arts and audiences for them.

Among these trends and factors was the so-called ‘demographic timebomb’, relating to the overall ageing of the UK population. This overall increase in the average age of the population is such that (according to data available in May 2003) the number of people aged 65 years old and over is projected to exceed the number of children aged 16 years and under sometime during 2014.