Living Longer, Healthy Ageing and Public Policy
By Pol Vandenbroucke, WDA Global Longevity Council
As people around the globe return to the office, they’re asking fundamental questions about how our lives, workplaces, and societies are structured — and United Nations Headquarters is no exception. It’s fitting, then, that one of the first in-person events back at the U.N. focused on a mega-trend that will transform our world in the decades ahead and linked directly to the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing, now in full throttle.
We are living through an unprecedented demographic transition, with long-term impacts as profound as those of the pandemic. Globally, the number of adults 65+ will exceed 1.1 billion by 2035, an increase of nearly 60% in just 15 years. And this increase will not be equally distributed. The greatest change will play out in countries that are relatively young today; such as China, the world’s fastest aging society, where the ratio of old to young will nearly double from under 20 percent in 2020 to around 35 percent by 2035. They will join today’s Super-Ageing Japan both in demographic construction — more old than young — and in the need to align public policy.
The data is clear. We cannot reverse this trend. Policies that aim to boost fertility rates or incentivize migration will not change the underlying demographic realities in the period to 2035 and even mid-century. Instead, we must adapt for aging — building older societies that are just as healthy, productive, and prosperous, if not more so. Leverage the “aging trend” to positive economic, health and socially desirable life effects.
But this goal will require bold action: nothing less than reimagining the modern life course and the public policy, societal, and economic architecture on which it is built.
The traditional “learn-work-retire” model, where one’s health and career are assumed to sharply decline at 60 or 65, can no longer work in a world of more old than young. It’s time for a new, far more dynamic concept, one that empowers people to remain healthy, independent, and engaged throughout the full span of modern longevity — all supported by smart government policy and new societal norms.
As we explore in our recent report, Living Longer Around the World: Opportunities and Challenges, our world’s age diversity provides a built-in community of practice to achieve just this goal. “Super-aging” countries, like Japan, Italy, and Finland, are already pioneering solutions, while relatively “younger” countries, like China, Chile, and Indonesia, can begin to adopt and tailor these lessons as their own aging accelerates in the years ahead.
While the exact demographic dynamics vary across the 31 countries included in the report, policymakers should focus on three core areas: enabling healthy aging, supporting workforce engagement, and ensuring sustainable finances. And for all of us, focus on the design of our report, which took us just far enough out — 15 years, but not too far — say to mid-century as most do — to be able to devise real solutions that are also measurable. Solid milestones in a reasonable time period among the 31 countries in our analysis is key to the value of the Report and a model for all societies — all governments — in the other 160 some around the planet who can learn from our 31.
The report is clear that, just as our personal health is foundational to all we do, good and supportable health policy is central to an aging society. The United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing, being implemented by the World Health Organization, is a landmark achievement in this regard. The campaign recognizes that untreated chronic conditions and acute care emergencies are too often exacerbated or caused by ageism, or the assumption that poor health is just “a normal part of growing old.” It isn’t, and we need health policy that says so, supporting individuals to stay healthy, access care, and enjoy high quality of life at all ages. That, in turn, will help to mitigate the staggering costs of age-related health challenges, such as Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis and fragility fractures, heart disease, infectious disease and vision impairment. The report, Living Longer Around the World: Opportunities and Challenges, is a start for real policy change that can have short-term impact.
With a longer “health-span,” or years in good health, older workers will be able to extend their careers. Many will also work differently, as they explore mentoring, coaching, or consulting roles, switch to more flexible work arrangements, go back to school, or launch a new career or business entirely. Government policies for continuing education, caregiver support, and a longevity-informed retirement age can support this vital and rapidly growing segment of the workforce. Employers, for their part, can attract and support older talent with age-neutral workplaces, inclusive culture, and benefits for employee-caregivers.
Finally, both healthy aging and extended careers have important implications for national budgets, workforces, and economic growth. Forward-looking health policy can help to flatten the cost trajectory of age-related health challenges, which threaten to become unsustainable on our current course. Working longer and differently is also a necessity when countries across the world will see a dramatic increase in the share of their workforce 65+ by 2035.
This milestone is only a little more than a decade away. For countries at all stages of the demographic transition, now is the time to act. The right policies can empower people to embrace a more vibrant life-course with better health and greater opportunities at all ages, in the process creating more resilient societies and communities.
In short, we know that our world is growing older. Whether it grows healthier and more prosperous at the same time?
That’s up to us.
Pol Vandenbroucke is the Chairman of the WDA Global Longevity Council and the coauthor of Living Longer Around the World: Opportunities and Challenges.
