Ageing: International Statistical Trends and Prospects

The population has aged in recent decades and will continue to age across the world. This global ageing is influenced both by changing patterns in fertility and health improvements leading to increased life expectancy. Whether this increase in life expectancy is leading to an increase in healthy life is not clear with competing definitions of healthy life leading to varying estimates of whether the expected number of years in poor health at the end of life is compressing or expanding. Here we explore the causes and consequences as well as the issues surrounding the measurement of ageing in the population.