Health equals wealth: Maximising the global longevity dividend
About
In October 2020, we launched our international Health equals wealth: The global longevity dividend report ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting, which highlighted that:
- Workers aged 50 and over earn every third dollar in the G20 economy.
- In 2015, spending by older households in the G20 averaged 22% of GDP, amounting to almost USD 10 trillion, more than the combined GDP of Japan, Australia, Canada and Brazil.
- The average unpaid contributions of older people across the EU and Turkey could be worth as much as 1.4% of GDP – more than what these countries spend on defense.
But these contributions could be much higher. And a key barrier to spending, working, caring and volunteering as we age is poor health:
- Countries where more older people are vaccinated against the flu have higher employment rates for those aged 65 to 69 and higher consumption rates for those aged 60 and over.
- In countries that spend more on health, older people work, volunteer and spend more.
- Increasing preventative health spend by just 0.1 percentage points can unlock a 9% increase in annual spending by people aged 60+ and an additional 10 hours of volunteering.
Supporting older people’s economic contributions will be vital in the post-pandemic recovery and as countries adapt to the future of an ageing society.
Through this programme, we are taking a deep-dive into what the situation looks like across each of the G20 countries and bringing together global policymakers to discuss how G20 countries can best maximise the opportunity of longer lives as we come out of the pandemic.
This project has been financially supported by Sanofi.
Country reports
These short policy reports (available in English and local languages) highlight the economic opportunities of longevity across key economies across the world. Click on the flags below to select the findings for each country.
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Previous publications
Health equals wealth: The global longevity dividend
Lockdown not shutdown: How can we unlock the longevity dividend post-pandemic?
Maximising the longevity dividend
Past events
14/07/2022
Health equals wealth: Maximising the longevity dividend across Asia Pacific
We held an afternoon seminar at the British Embassy in Tokyo, chaired by British Ambassador to Japan and with representatives from the Japanese government and academia on what could be done to maximise the economic opportunities of ageing across the region. Key questions included:
- What can governments and businesses do to capture a potential longevity dividend?
- What are the barriers and levers to realising the opportunities of healthy ageing?
- What examples of best practice are already out there?
- What can we learn from Japan? What works well, what are opportunities for continuous improvement?
- What have we learnt from COVID-19? And what more can we do to support an economic and health recovery from the devastating impact of the pandemic?
- What needs to happen next?
21/06/2022
Growing the longevity economy: Advancing equity and health for sustained success
A disheartening theme in many discussions about the societal implications of ageing is that older populations are costly, less productive, and prone to economic stagnation or decline. In truth, older people make substantial and ever-increasing contributions to economic activity in North America through their labour, consumption spending, tax contributions, and non-market activities (e.g., volunteering and caregiving). Unfortunately, even as this group’s economic role grows, barriers such as age discrimination and poor health limit their economic potential and lower overall societal welfare.
21/06/2022
Growing the longevity economy: Advancing equity and health for sustained success
A disheartening theme in many discussions about the societal implications of ageing is that older populations are costly, less productive, and prone to economic stagnation or decline. In truth, older people make substantial and ever-increasing contributions to economic activity in North America through their labour, consumption spending, tax contributions, and non-market activities (e.g., volunteering and caregiving). Unfortunately, even as this group’s economic role grows, barriers such as age discrimination and poor health limit their economic potential and lower overall societal welfare.
22/11/2021
Health equals wealth: How can the UK and Europe work together to support healthy ageing?
At this joint high-level event with the Department for International Trade, we launched our European reports and discussed how countries across Europe can work together better towards healthy ageing.
04/10/2021
Health equals wealth: Conservative party conference Manchester Breakfast roundtable
At this breakfast roundtable alongside the Conservative Party Conference, we discussed the importance of including people of all ages in the post-pandemic recovery.
12/10/2020
Virtual report launch – Health equals wealth: The global longevity dividend
At this webinar, we launched of our flagship “Health equals wealth: Maximising the global longevity dividend” report alongside the G20 Finance Ministers’ and Central Bankers’ meeting.
Blogs
29/07/2021
Time to play
Blog by: David Sinclair, ILC
Gillette designed a razor to be used by carers; Manga comics are being produced to target older people; and even beer companies are designing drinks that are targeted at the older end of the market. Over the past 30 years, companies like BT, Oxo, Saga, Google and Apple have mainstreamed inclusive design. But while companies are innovating, the UK Government strategy’s on older consumers remains somewhat lacking.
15/06/2021
Older consumers going Gaga for record store day
Blog by: David Sinclair, ILC
That we have both 19-year-old Billy Eilish and 73-year-old Brian May filling the 02 Arena in London next year has to be good news for age diversity. But the industry has an ageism and sexism problem. Perhaps it’s time for male acts to boycott events and labels with few female performers in the same way many male conference speakers avoid ‘manels’.
16/04/2021
The NHS White Paper: What does it mean for the prevention agenda?
Blog by: Lily Parsey, ILC
The recently published Integration and Innovation NHS White Paper has received very mixed feedback – from those praising it for front-lining a much-needed focus on integrating services, to those criticising it for taking away agency from local authorities and going back on previous commitments. But what does it actually say (and what doesn’t it)? And what does it all mean for the prevention agenda?
04/12/2020
In praise of ‘big data’ and analysis: Putting a value on prevention
Blog by: Prof Les Mayhew, ILC
Last year we highlighted how the health and economic costs of failing to invest in preventative interventions across the life course are simply too high to ignore. But whilst Governments and healthcare professionals seem to agree that prevention is better than cure, can we get better at putting a price a on it? And how can we use this evidence to deliver action to tackle health inequalities and engage policymakers and healthcare workers.
23/06/2020
The new long life
Blog by: Prof Andrew Scott, London Business School
Demographers have long warned that the world is going through a transition towards an ageing society. Declines in the birth rate, more people living into old age combined with increases in lifespan mean that for the first time ever there are now more people globally aged over 65 than under 5. The common view of this phenomena is to look at the change in the age distribution of society and focus on the new needs that arise when there are more older citizens. There is however an alternative perspective.
04/12/2019
Can older people save the high street?
Blog by: Harry Curzon and David Sinclair, ILC
Across the UK and much of the world, high streets are struggling and footfall is dropping. Recent statistics found that in the first half of 2019, 1,234 more stores were closed than were opened. The decline of the high streets across the UK has primarily been blamed on the growth of online shopping, with 82% of people in the UK now shopping on-line, an increase of 53% from 10 years ago. Could older people play a role in saving the high street?
News
19/05/2022
Older workers and consumers could be essential to Brazilian post-pandemic recovery, argues new report
A new report highlights that supporting older people’s economic contributions will be critical to Brazil’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
22/11/21
Longer lives significantly contributing to European economies, new reports find
A series of reports published by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) today highlights the economic opportunities of longer lives across Europe. According to the reports, older people’s contributions across the European region are significant, and growing.
18/11/21
European Commission must develop concerted response to ageing
Members of ILC Europe Network have today written to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, arguing that it is vital that the EU Green Paper “should not now be put on a shelf to gather dust, but instead be a step towards a concerted European response to ageing”.
11/11/21
Countries need to up spending commitments on health promotion, argue think tanks
A new report entitled “The ‘Cost of Inequality’, exposes the gaps in life expectancy, health and economic opportunity between the richest and poorest parts of England. The author, Professor Les Mayhew, argues that the key to ‘levelling up’ is to improve health and to link that to increasing economic activity in deprived areas.
01/07/2021
Health and longer working lives provide key to the levelling up agenda
A new report entitled “The ‘Cost of Inequality’, exposes the gaps in life expectancy, health and economic opportunity between the richest and poorest parts of England. The author, Professor Les Mayhew, argues that the key to ‘levelling up’ is to improve health and to link that to increasing economic activity in deprived areas.
09/07/2021
Time to double up efforts, not cut spending on health, think tank warns
“One of the big lessons from COVID-19 is that the costs of failing to invest in preventative interventions are simply too high to ignore. So looking at the next months, the next years and even the next decades in the context of an ageing society, it’s time to double up efforts, not cut spending on health.”
22/06/2021
ILC responds to EU Green Paper on Ageing
The contributions of older people extend far beyond their formal economic contributions. Across the EU and Turkey, productive non-market activities, like caring and volunteering, by people aged 50 and over were worth 1.4% of GDP in 2010 – more than what the EU spends on defense.
15/01/2021
Groundhog day as report highlights that Government continues to fail to realise the opportunities of ageing
“It feels like groundhog day with yet another Parliamentary report highlighting our failure to respond to ageing. It has been clear for decades that the UK is failing to meet the challenges of ageing whilst also missing out on the opportunities of an older population. It doesn’t have to be this way. As the Lords report highlights, the UK could lead the way. We are global leaders in health and technology. Government must drive and better support innovations if we are to deliver a longevity dividend.”
02/11/2020
It’s time for an Ageing Society New Deal
We are calling for G20 countries to commit to developing country-level strategies for ageing.
19/08/2020
Global COVID recovery relies on better engaging over-50s
- Spending by over-50’s across the G20 exceeds the combined GDP of Japan, Australia, Canada and Brazil
- Every third dollar across the G20 is earned by over-50’s
- Countries that invest more in preventative health are most likely to benefit from ‘longevity dividend’
Videos
Get in touch
We are working with organisations at national level to push forward our recommendations to support countries to adapt to their ageing societies and realise a ‘longevity dividend’. Want to work with us? Get in touch with Lily Parsey.
