‘Longevity Economy’ – the World Economic Forum sets out its vision on ageing

The World Economic Forum has launched a report on the ‘longevity economy’, which puts forward six principles to address the challenges of ageing population. We participated in the launch event.

Drawn up by global officials from human resources, finance and health companies, as well as government and academia, the report reminds that we need to embrace strategies across different policy areas to foster ageing in dignity.

European Commission: we need to adapt our environments to the life of centenarians

The key impact of demographic change will be economic, highlighted Desa Srsen of the Cabinet of European Commission Vice-President Dubravka Suica, and we have no choice but to adapt. Demographic development will not fundamentally change over the next decades, so we know that there will be many more people living longer within only 20 years than today. We need to adapt and to mitigate at the same time. For Mrs Srsen, the gap in labour supply is so high that even if we manage to mobilise all human capital we have, we will not cope with its reduction. We need to adapt to the life of centenarians and explore more flexible retirement patterns. The European Commission’s delegate calls for a shift from the ‘silver economy’, seeing older persons only as consumers, to a longevity economy, asking also what older people can contribute. She later added that this has do be made by mobilising social investments, leading to healthier people who may want to stay active for longer.

Colin Scicluna, also member of the cabinet of Vice-President Suica, later added that the Vice-President advocates for a ‘senior guarantee’ in the next European Commission, which could embody these needs for change and for better equal treatment policies towards older persons.

World Health Organisation: improving healthy ageing needs investment

Older people cannot fit into one category, underlined Yuka Sumi of the World Health Organisation (WHO). There are many different clinical conditions, from successful mountain climbers or businesspeople to persons with severely challenging health situations. Physiological ageing is inevitable, but there are ways to slow it down and delay the onset of declining capacities. Everyone has a human right to access human health, regardless of age, income, disability. The progress report of the UN Decade on Healthy Ageing in 2030 shows that there is progress in a number of countries and areas, including assistive devices, age-friendly environments and age discrimination. But only 30% of countries state that they have sufficient resources to meet the necessary adaptations. Mrs Sumi concluded that there is a huge need for investment and for action to achieve healthy ageing. Care must come closer to where people live, with a stronger focus on capacities and prevention.

Need for more ‘longevity literacy’

Surya Kolluri, of the of the US-American retired teachers’ association TIAA institute called for increasing longevity literacy: people may know a bit about life expectancy, but it is important to know about life expectancy at different ages (factoring out child mortality) and healthy life expectancy. For Mr Kolluri, many people do not have a proper representation of their own probable life expectancy. There is a 30% gap between women and men on financial literacy, but women lead over men in longevity literacy.

Better funding what brings values to our societies

Talking about the value of care, European Commissioner for Finance Mairead McGuinness emphasised that informal care, provided unpaid by many women, is underestimated and undervalued in our societies.