Where is the best place to retire in the UK? Christchurch in Dorset apparently

We all know the UK is faced with issues around its ageing population – but where are the oldest (and youngest) constituencies in the country? 

 

Figures out today from the Office for National Statistics suggest that Great Britain's older population is “concentrated primarily in coastal areas” – while the young bucks tend to live in the inner cities. 

 

The ONS told City AM those coastal towns had a higher rate of pensioners "because of internal migration of people of retirement age", a trend that stretched back "over a period of many years".

 

The Dorset town of Christchurch, near Bournemouth, has the highest proportion of people aged 65 and over of anywhere in England, Wales or Scotland – 33.2 per cent of the population. 

 

To scroll past this visualisation on mobile, swipe down on the right-hand side of the screen.

 

 

Here's a table and a map showing the top 10 places with the highest concentration of people at the default retirement age. 

And here they are on a map:

 

 

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, London had relatively younger constituencies with an area in the east of the capital – Poplar and Limehouse – recorded as having just 5.5 per cent of registered people at what used to be the default retirement age. 

 

Here's the top 10 constituencies with the lowest proportion of people aged 65 and over mapped and in a table – just two of the 10 are outside the capital: