MEASURING ACTIVE AND HEALTHY AGEING: LESSONS FROM ACTIVE AGEING INDEX OF THE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The idea underlying active ageing strategies is to provide an environment that is rich in opportunities and where old age is not synonymous with becoming dependent. Such a paradigm prevents the loss of valuable expertise of older people and strengthens society’s human resilience. Many of these ideas are brought together in the Active Ageing Index “AAI” project of European Commission/UNECE. The AAI is a summary measure of active and healthy ageing, using 22 indicators to assess the untapped potential of older people, to capture the baseline position, to monitor progress and identify where challenges remain. This presentation will draw learnings from the AAI in addressing how countries fare better than others and how this can motivate and orient countries lagging behind. It will show how the AAI allows policymakers to base their interventions on the comparative evidence of active ageing indicators and their aggregation into a summary measure.