Year started: 2023

Investing in people’s health is vital for everyone’s wellbeing and to ensure that we can truly benefit from the “longevity dividend” that could result from an ageing population. Yet we know that across the globe, action and investment in healthy ageing and preventative health continues to lag. This is where the Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index comes in. It ranks 121 countries against six indicators: life span, health span, work span, income, environmental performance, and happiness. This allows us to compare how sustainable different countries are, both in terms of longer lives and the extent to which their governments are investing in efforts to prevent ill health and support healthy ageing. We know prevention is better than cure. We know what works. Now we need to see action.

Objectives

The Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index offers a unique and holistic perspective to understanding population health, not just through health metrics but also through an economic and environmental lens. We want this programme of work to sit at the heart of global policy and political engagement on prevention and healthy ageing. We will use the Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index as a tool to: 1. Hold Governments to account by tracking progress on prevention and healthy ageing; 2. Engage leading global health leaders including at the G7 and G20 to move from commitment to action on preventative health; 3. Support the Healthy Ageing and Prevention Coalition’s calls to action.

Scope

The Index gives us a comprehensive picture of how well countries perform against key healthy ageing metrics. These are the issues that matter to policy makers most. The Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index measures and ranks 121 countries against six metrics: life span, health span, work span, income, environmental performance, and happiness. These indicators give us a comprehensive picture of the extent to which different governments are investing in efforts to prevent ill health and support healthy ageing. We take a broad view of healthy ageing, based on evidence from wider literature and global policy developments that includes the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing.