A concept developed with the Institute of Population Ageing by HelpAge International has been launched as the first Global Ageing Index. The launch at the Royal Society by HelpAge and AgeInternational was charied by Professor Sarah Harper, Director of the Institute.
"Oxford is delighted that a concept developed at the Instititute in collaboration with HelpAge has come to such a successful fruition. Constructing such indexs is a conplex methodological issue, but this is an excellant beginning to understanid how the world is ageing."
Kenneth Howse, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute, was responsible for developing the concept note of the Global Ageing Index and guiding its development.
With the support of the United Nations Fund for Population, Global AgeWatch Index 2013 is the first quantitative measure of its kind to focus on the wellbeing of older people on a worldwide scale. Drawing on data from the World Bank, World Health Organization, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, International Labour Organization, and Gallup World Poll databas, the Index compares the experiences of older people from 91 countries around the world and ranks them in order of quality of experience.
Silvia Stefanoni, Interim Chief Executive of HelpAge International, says:
"The world is rapidly ageing: people over 60 years of age already exceed children under 5, and by 2050 they will outnumber children under 15. However, the continual exclusion of ageing from national and global agendas is one of the biggest obstacles to meeting the needs of the world's ageing population.
"By giving us a better understanding of the quality of life of women and men as they age, this new Index can help us focus our attention on where things are going well and where we have to make improvements."
