In December 2020, the United Nations designated 2021 to 2030 the Decade of Healthy Aging. The declaration served as a rallying cry to elevate awareness of population aging across society, a catalyst for multi-sectoral collaboration to harness the promise of rapid demographic shifts, and an acknowledgement that population aging is a global megatrend happening in every country.
It’s important to acknowledge that the global megatrend is not happening the same in every country. The fastest demographic shifts are taking place in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Analysis from AARP – the world’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan social mission organization, headquartered in the United States – indicates that LMICs will be home to nearly 80% of individuals aged 65 years and over by 2050, with the fastest growth in the 65-and-over population happening in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Nor is aging affecting every population group equally. That same analysis, from the fourth edition of AARP’s Aging Readiness and Competitiveness Initiative (ARC 4.0), found stark differences in how individuals age across the life course. Of note, women live longer than men and experience more years of income security and in particular poor health (see Figure 1) regardless of a country’s development status.
The latest edition of the ARC (ARC 5.0) released in April 2025, explored solutions for closing the gender income security gap for older adults in LMICs. Harnessing the full economic potential of aging populations is paramount, given projections that older adults will contribute $118 trillion dollars to the global economy by midcentury. Employing meta-analysis of existing interventions and novel economic modeling, the ARC 5.0 provides insights to spur action that boosts income security for women as they age. Takeaways include:
- Annual GDP growth is strongly associated with improvements in healthy longevity for both older men and women, according to data from 172 countries;
- Social pensions positively impact recipient outcomes, including reducing poverty and increasing food security, healthcare utilization, and social participation. Mexico’s noncontributory Women’s Welfare Pension (Pensión Mujeres Bienestar) program enhances income security for women aged 60-64;
- Social pension programs bolster overall economic growth: South Africa’s Old-Age Grant model reaches nearly 75% of South Africans aged 60+ and yields 1.4 rand back to the economy for every rand invested;
- Only 55% of individuals from G7 countries and 28% from emerging economies have financial literacy to plan for their future, a barrier to income security that is strongly linked to healthy aging. Financial education programs are being deployed in response, such as Singapore’s Citi-Tsao Financial Education Programme for Mature Women, which has been effective in supporting long-term financial self-sufficiency.
As we enter the second half of the Decade of Healthy Aging, the global community must turn to each other for solutions to achieve the Decade’s promise: a world fit for individuals as they age. Insights from AARP underscore the need for this approach, showcasing solutions from around the world to boost income security and wellbeing of older women: comprising a majority of the world’s older adult population in the decades to come. Leaders and practitioners must leverage shared knowledge and experiences to embrace global solutions to ensure a world where older adults can thrive and function.
Figure 1. Across countries of different income levels, women live longer than men but in more years of poor health in later life (Figure and caption adopted from the ARC 4.0 report and modified with permission from AARP).
