Jane Scobie www.globalagewatch.org

Cross-national research on well-being of older people: Insights from Global AgeWatch Index

•Setting the scene: Population Ageing

•Why the Index?

•What is the Index?

•Cross-national research challenges:

• Multidimensional well-being framework

• Data

• Subjective indicators

•What’s next?

Scale and rate of global population ageing

Increases in all regions

Source: UNDESA Population Division, Population Ageing and Development 2012, Wall Chart, 2012; UNDESA Population Division, World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision, 2013

Why is the Index needed?

• Monitor well-being of older people across the world

• Benchmark countries and provide insight into areas of policy intervention

• Provide a guideline framework for governments and international institutions on key data to collect to develop and respond to population ageing

• Help identify, track and monitor key trends on ageing at country, regional and global levels

• Ensure the Post 2015 framework includes older people and responds to the UN Secretary General’s call for a ‘data revolution’.

What is the Index? • First-ever measure of quality of life and well-being of older

people around the world

• Uses the latest cross-national data available from World Bank, WHO, ILO, and Gallup World View

• Covers 96 countries representing 91% of the world’s older people

Four domains and thirteen indicators

Cross-national research challenges : multidimensional framework of well-being• How to capture well-being

• Cultures might define quality of life differently

• People might assign priorities to dimensions

• The Index framework was developed based on

• Human Development Index

• Recommendations of the Stiglitz Commission, Madrid International Plan of Actions on Ageing, UNFPA/HelpAge International report ‘Ageing in the XXI century’

• Consultations with more than 30 International experts in ageing from academia, international governmental organizations and civil societies.

Cross-national research challenges: Data

• We lack internationally comparable data on older people (e.g. poverty in old age, political participation, life-long learning, psychological well-being)

Cross-national research challenges: Data• When data is available it might not reflect the current

situation

• Time lag when national statistics makes it to international datasets

• No international agreement on methodology of measuring indicators (e.g. HALE; poverty rate: absolute vs. relative; equivalence scale; income vs. consumption based)

Cross-national research challenges: Subjective indicators• Subjective indicators

• Important to include perspective of older people on enabling environment they live in

• Cross-national comparison of subjective indicators

• Need for better quality subjective data

greater sample and age group 60+

• should be part of national datasets (e.g. Eurofound Quality of life Survey 2012, EU Quality of life indicators)

Partnering for next steps

• Extend the Index to cover all countries

• Constructing separate indices for older women and men

• Include political and civil rights

• Have data broken down by groups within each country - rural areas, towns and cities, richer and poorer areas of a country, different age groups of older people

• Explore how new data from national sources can develop the Index further

• Set the standard for ageing well everywhere

Thank you!