AEGON sustainability experts discuss the implications of global aging on healthcare, technology, IT, and financial services.

1. Sustainability column: AGING
The greatest triumph of the age
We have all seen the figures. By the middle of this century, older people – those over
the age of sixty – will account for more than a fifth of the world’s population. This, we
are told, will have far-reaching consequences for the way we work, the way we save for
retirement – ultimately, the way we live our lives.
There are implications for healthcare, for technology and IT, for transport, for financial
services, for the treatment of diseases, like Alzheimer’s, that may be age-related. Even
for the management and design of our cities. (The first-ever international conference on
aging cities took place last September in Dublin).
Last year, AEGON became a founding
The risks of global aging are well known. But member of the Global Coalition on
what about the opportunities? The fact is that, far Aging. The GCOA is an alliance of
from being a curse, global aging is one of the international companies aimed at
raising awareness of the issues
great triumphs of our times.
surrounding global aging – particularly
among policymakers and the wider
Opposite view
public. As well as AEGON, members
include Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson,
Look at the same figures from the opposite view.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch,
A child born in 1950 could expect to live, on Deloitte, Intel and Microsoft. One of
average, less than 50 years. Today, this child the GCOA’s key objectives is for
would live 70 years. Longer life expectancy is the society to embrace “an optimistic view
result of better healthcare, better nutrition and of longevity and population aging”.
significant advances in medicine. Generally
speaking, older people are richer and more physically active than they have ever been.
Consequently, attitudes towards retirement – in Europe, North America and Asia – are
slowly changing. For many, retirement has become a time of much greater personal
freedom when they can take on new ventures, travel and volunteer overseas, or even
begin a second career at home.
It’s an idea that’s gaining ground in policy circles. This year, 2012, is officially the
European Year of Active Aging. And the World Health Organization recently published a
policy framework on the same issue.
Biggest change
Perhaps the biggest change, however, has been in the new, emerging economies,
particularly China and India, where growth over recent years has lifted millions of older
people out of poverty. That’s important – currently, two thirds of older people live in
developing countries and that figure will rise by 2050 to almost 80%.

2. These changes bring new opportunities – in the very areas where there are also risks:
in long-term healthcare, in technology, in food and nutrition and, of course, in financial
services. In the years ahead, we will all have to get used to the idea of saving more for
our retirement, saving longer, and managing our assets more carefully once we have
stopped work.
None of this is reason for complacency. The challenges of global aging are very real.
Aging will bring profound economic and social change. But we shouldn’t lose sight of
the bigger picture. At the end of the day, aging is a nice problem to have.
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