Population ageing is often perceived negatively from an economic standpoint. But does the evidence support this perspective? And what can countries do to support ageing populations without breaking the bank? 

Population ageing is often perceived negatively from an economic standpoint. Yet, taking a more balanced view, it becomes evident that a growing older population is not necessarily very costly to care for, and that older people provide significant economic and societal benefits – particularly if they are healthy and active. 

This is the broad perspective of the Economics of Healthy and Active Ageing series: to inspire a ‘re-think’ of the economic consequences of population ageing.  

In this series, we investigate key policy questions associated with population ageing, bringing together findings from research and country experiences. We review what is known about the health and long-term care costs of older people, and consider many of the economic and societal benefits of healthy ageing.  

We also explore policy options within the health and long-term care sectors, as well as other areas, which: 

• minimize avoidable health and long-term care costs
• support older people so that they can continue to contribute meaningfully to society, or  
• contribute to the sustainability of care systems in the context of changing demographics.  

The outputs of this series by the European Observatory take a variety of brief formats that are: accessible, policy-relevant and can be rapidly disseminated.