Global Population Ageing: Peril or Promise?

Global ageing, in developed and developing countries alike, will dramatically alter the way that societies and economies work. The issues include how individuals find fulfilment, at what age they retire, and their quality of life once they do retire; how governments devise social contracts to provide financial security; how the older and younger generations interact as they divide up the economic pie; how businesses staff their jobs to compensate in many countries for shrinking workforces; and how health systems respond to the altered needs of those living longer.

Global Population Ageing: Peril or Promise is part of the long-term work on the issue by the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Ageing and will provide the background for its activities over the next few years. This book is the product of a true collaboration among the business, political, academic, and other leaders of society that make up the Network of Global Agenda Councils.

Chapters co-authored by Laura Carstensen, Director of Stanford Center on Longevity

Chapter 1 : The Meaning of Old Age
Laura L. Carstensen and Linda P. Fried    Download chapter

Chapter 7 : Social Capital, Lifelong Learning and Social Innovation
Simon Biggs, Laura Carstensen and Paul Hogan    Download chapter

Chapter co-authored by Jack Rowe, Chairman of the Center on Longevity’s External Advisory Council and Visiting Scholar for the Winter 2012 term

Chapter 12: Design and Operation of Health Systems in Wealthy Industrial Countries
Linda P. Fried, Paul Hogan and Jack Rowe  Download chapter