Summary
BELLE Macmillan is a member of a select group. Born in the reign of Edward VII, her life has encompassed two world wars and 17 prime ministers. In 1909, the year she was born, the North Pole was conquered and Louis Bleriot became the first man to fly across the Channel. But the 95-year-old is also the face of the future. A former nurse, widowed and childless, she moved from sheltered housing into residential care in Edinburgh in spring 2002. "I wasn't very well and I couldn't walk. I couldn't get out," she says. "I'd been in my previous home for 23 years so I thought I had done quite well."
By 2101, the number of Scots aged 90-plus will pass 350,000 and could be as high as 435,000 - more than ten times current levels - according to work carried out by Phillip Rees, of Leeds University.See the full content of this document
Extract
Dying Nation:The Ageing Face of the Future
Falling birth rates mean many nonagenarians of the future will, like Belle, have no family. Traditional models of care may become obsolete.
If a 22nd-century Scotland populated by Methuselahs seems unlikely, consider how surprising today's average life expectancy would hav...See the full content of this document
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