This seminar will present key findings of the Active Ageing Index (AAI) and make the case how it can be developed further to become a global measure of older people’s active and healthy aging and well-being. The AAI was born out of the need for a high-quality and independent evidence base to show how experiences of aging at the individual level can be enriched with higher levels of public policy to improve labor market engagement and health, and to reduce dependency. A project of European Commission/UNECE (2012-2015), the AAI is the first major effort to operationalize multidimensional aspects of active and healthy aging of older adults, in the diverse policy, institutional and economic contexts of EU countries. By using 22 indicators, the AAI measures active and healthy aging to assess the untapped potential of older people, to capture the baseline position as well as monitor progress and identify where challenges remain. The Global AAI will put forth comparative and substantive evidence that can motivate countries that lag behind and prevent the loss of valuable expertise of older people while strengthening society’s economic and human resilience.
Speaker: Asghar Zaidi is Professor of International Social Policy at University of Southampton (UK) where his research spans active and healthy aging and the well-being of older people and persons with disabilities. Since 2012, he has led the research effort in the Active Ageing Index Project. Most recently, in collaboration with HelpAge International, he developed Global AgeWatch Index, the first-ever index to measure the wellbeing of older people on a worldwide scale. Visiting Professor at London School of Economics and Senior Advisor at European Centre Vienna, Dr. Zaidi was previously Senior Economist at the OECD in Paris. He has served as an economic adviser for the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions and as a research officer at both the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford. An expert advisor to WHO’s Centre for Health Development in Japan, he advised in developing indicators for WHO’s network of Age-friendly Cities.
Discussant: Ruth Finkelstein, Associate Director of the Columbia Aging Center, is Assistant Professor in Mailman’s Health Policy & Management Department. She is an architect of Age-friendly New York, and she leads the Center’s work to frame policies that maximize productivity, quality of life, and health across the life course.
Free and open to the public. RSVP Requested. RSVP to Nana Asase: [email protected].
