SCOTLAND'S PENSIONER TIMEBOMB

Census shows worrying spike in our elderly population with one in five over-65s and fewer births than deaths

- CHRIS MCCALL

SCOTLAND faces a demographic timebomb with more than a million people now of pensionable age.

Census statistics published yesterday found the number of Scots aged 65 or over has jumped by 22.5 per cent over the last decade.

It raises questions over how already stretched NHS and care services will cope with a rapidly ageing population.

The census, completed last year, revealed the population of Scotland has reached a record high of 5,436,600.

Without migration from the rest of the UK and overseas the population would have fallen by 49,800 since 2011.

Population growth north of the Border was just 2.7 per cent over the last 10 years, compared to 6.6 per cent in England and Wales.

The survey also found an increasing number of Scots are living on their own.