DORSET has been named the 'oldest area in the UK'.

New research has identified the oldest and youngest populations of the UK, with Dorset having the highest number of residents over 85.

The study, conducted by life insurance experts Insurance Hero, analysed local population data from the Office of National Statistics, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, and Scotland’s Census.

Researchers calculated the percentage of each local population aged over 85 and under four to determine the UK areas with the oldest and youngest residents.

According to the findings, Dorset has the oldest population in the UK, as the study found 4.27 per cent of the local population are aged over 85.

This is almost 85 per cent higher than the average of 2.31 per cent found across all 212 UK areas analysed in the research. 

Philip Marfleet is an Emeritus Professor of Social Science at the University of East London.

In 2022, he was the co-author of a report titled 'Forgotten Towns', which explored some of the issues affecting Weymouth and Portland, including an ageing population which the report referred to as a "demographic time bomb".

READ MORE: Action needed to rescue Weymouth and Portland - report

Mr Marfleet said: "The key issue is the ratio of economically inactive to economically active people.

"If you exceed that ratio, you cannot provide the basic services to the population, it puts huge pressure on those services.

"When you have a very old population, as Dorset has, you cannot provide those services like transport, social care or even shopkeepers unless you have means of replacing that inactive population.

"In Dorset, Weymouth and Portland have a slightly younger demographic than the rest of the county.

"The problem is they don't stick around, they leave because the job prospects are not there.

"A few years ago it was called a demographic time bomb.

"The only way you can improve the age demographic is to either make the effort to retain the young people and hope the fertility rate goes up, or migration into the county - either from in the country or abroad.

"These are the challenges that need to be addressed."