Ageing, inequality and ethnicity: Evidence cards

Older generations are becoming more diverse than ever. But also more unequal. There’s an increasing level of inequalities in terms of health, wealth and life circumstances.

The inequalities described in this set of ‘evidence cards’ are particularly significant as older generations also become more ethnically diverse: the number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people aged 50-70 is growing at a faster rate than the number of White people.

It’s vital that these inequalities are tackled so that no one misses out on a good later life. This means better paid work, more affordable and better housing, and targeted measures to reduce ill-health.

This pack pulls together some of the statistics we uncovered in our report, ‘Boom and bust? The last baby boomers and their prospects for later life’. The figures presented here use the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and Understanding Society survey data.

We recognise that grouping together Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups can miss the nuances of their experiences. However, this should not lead us to conclude that there are no shared experiences. We also reinforce our previous calls for ethnicity data reporting to be made mandatory in all official and statutory statistics and data monitoring.