A FALL in the number of people aged 90 years and older living in Worcester with disabilities has been seen in new census data.

The Office for National Statistics said the decrease in older people stating they have a disability when the census took place in March 2021 could be due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ONS figures show about 325 people aged 90 and older in Worcester said they had a very limiting disability – accounting for 40.6 per cent of the age cohort.

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It was down significantly from 70.1 per cent when the previous census took place in 2011.

However,  170 over-90s (21.3 per cent) said they had a disability that was a little limiting, up from 20.4 per cent a decade prior.

Across England, 44.3 per cent of the oldest age cohort said they had a disability that limited them a lot - a fall from 66.5 per cent in 2011.

The proportion of older people saying they had a disability that limited them a little also fell from 24.2 per cent in 2011 to 20.1 per cent in 2021.

The ONS noted a change in the wording of the census question may also account for differences.

It said for older age groups, the visible prompt in the previous census question “include problems related to old age” was removed in the 2021 version, with the possible result this might have reduced the proportion of older people who considered they had a condition or illness.

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Julie Stanborough, deputy director of data and analysis for social care and health at the ONS, said the drop in older people who are disabled “may seem surprising”.

She said: “Sadly, many disabled people died in the Covid-19 pandemic, which may be one of the reasons."

The census figures also show more women had a disability in Worcester than men. About 10,080 women (19 per cent) said they had a disability in 2021 while 8125 men (16.8 per cent) did.

In England, 18.7 per cent of women and 16.5 per cent of men were disabled in 2021.