Professor Anthea Tinker - a social gerontologist, whose research interests include the social issues relating to old age. Professor Tinker believes that the quality of life is at least as important as its quantity. Important social and economic issues need to be addressed if an increasing elderly population are to lead happy and fulfilling lives.

What do elderly people want from current research into ageing?
I think the research into ageing and its biological aspects is extremely important. But what most older people want is basic services and of course it's the little things in life that often make such a difference to them. Research into things like arthritis or incontinence are equally, if not more important - the point is the quality of life. Ten years ago I was in a television show with an audience of about 50 or 60 older people who were asked to put up their hands if they'd like to live to one hundred. Only two people put their hands up - one because she wanted to see a great-grandchild born and the other one just wanted to pay off the mortgage.

What are the implications of increasing the number of older people in society?
If we do have many more older people and fewer younger people we have got to have a radical rethink in society. I think the first thing is about employment - many older people would actually like to continue working, perhaps part-time, so I think the idea of people retiring early is probably going to go out of the window, and so we will have more people in paid work. There are also implications for society as well, I think we may tend to value old people and their contribution more- I'm thinking particularly if women are going to go out to work as well as men and therefore grandparents are going to be needed for childcare.

There's also undoubtedly a lot of evidence about age discrimination and prejudice in the health service and in society as a whole, because we are very much a youth dominated culture. I think that's going to have to change and I'm sure it will, because the more older people we get, the more articulate and vociferous, and we're probably going to copy the Grey Panthers in the States, or we've seen the rise of older people in the Netherlands, for example, where they're actually having an imprint on design.

So I think older people are going to become much more important and of course a much larger proportion of consumers market, and if you've got buying power you're important. There are also going to be implications for housing, there will be more needed, partly because there'll be more older people, partly because more people are living alone, and the younger people who are living alone now in middle age are probably going to continue to do that. We're also going to need much more friendly designs.

How likely is it that we will all live to be 100?
The number of centenarians is on the rise: in 1951 there were 300, there are currently about 6,000, but in 2036 there will be 40,000. So a number of us will live to be 100, but certainly not millions.

Is the possibility of living increasingly longer a positive development?
As long as the biological research is going to allow older people to live healthy and fulfilling lives, that's fine, but we also have to think about the social implications and the quality of their lives, which is not only to do with biology, but it's also to do with their social relationships and their surroundings. For example, if people are going to be married for 60 or 70 years to the same person, what effect will that have on them?

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