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Ageing is one of the greatest social and economic challenges of the 21st century for European societies. It will affect all EU countries and most policy areas.
By 2025 more than 20% of Europeans will be 65 or over, with a particularly rapid increase in numbers of over-80s.
Because older people have different healthcare requirements, health systems will need to adapt so they can provide adequate care and remain financially sustainable.
Europe can potentially be a global leader in providing innovative responses.
The pilot European Innovation Partnership on active and healthy ageing aims to increase average healthy life years in the EU by 2 years by 2020.
Healthy life years are the number of years a person of a given age can expect to live in good health.
This can be shown by the EU’s healthy life years indicator, which combines simple life expectancy (mortality) with health status (disability).