He will appear at the Worcester Magistrates Court on Tuesday 15 June.
Mr Venables told a newspaper in 1982 that he woke up one morning to find his wife was gone, and that he hoped and prayed she would return safely.
He had moved away from that home, but was living in the nearby vicinity.
Speaking on the case, Mark Paul, the Head of Complex Casework Unit for the CPS said: The decision to authorise the charge against the defendant was made after careful consideration of all the available evidence of this complex case and determining that a prosecution is required in the public interest.