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. 2025 Jan;5(1):113-121.
doi: 10.1038/s43587-024-00772-3. Epub 2024 Dec 27.

A global analysis of adaptation to societal aging across low-, middle- and high-income countries using the Global Aging Society Index

Cynthia Chen  1   2   3 , Julian Lim  4 , Jemima Koh  4 , John Beard  5 , John W Rowe  5 ; Research Network on an Aging Society
Collaborators, Affiliations

A global analysis of adaptation to societal aging across low-, middle- and high-income countries using the Global Aging Society Index

Cynthia Chen et al. Nat Aging. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

We have previously presented a multidimensional Aging Society Index, a weighted summation of five domains central to successful adaptation to societal aging: well-being, productivity and engagement, equity, cohesion and security, as a tool to assess countries' adaptation to demographic transformation. As the index was based on data from developed countries and some of the individual metrics or weightings may not be well suited for application to low- and middle-income countries, we here present the scores on a modified index (Global Aging Society Index) on 143 countries distributed across the span of economic development. Only 5 out of 143 (3.5%) countries had higher scores for women than men. Countries with the most notable gender differences were primarily low-income countries. The multidimensional index permits cross-national comparisons and may facilitate the identification of targets for developing policies and programs to enhance the likelihood that older persons will age successfully.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Global measures in the Aging Index.
Measures and weights categorised by domains.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Global Aging Society Index and world rankings.
a, Aging Society Index world map. b, Overall ranking.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Domain world rankings, overall.
Countries’ rankings for domains and overall index.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Global Aging Society Index difference, women – men.
Countries on the left of the ranking have higher scores for women and countries on the right have higher scores for men.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Domain scores differences, women – men.
Countries on the left of the ranking have higher scores for women and countries on the right have higher scores for men.
Extended Data Fig. 1
Extended Data Fig. 1. Correlation (Pearson correlation test) between scoring methods and weighting schemes for overall Aging Society Index scores (Overall).
Correlation (Pearson correlation test) between scoring methods and weighting schemes for overall Aging Society Index scores for all genders. Note: Combined weights refer to the average of weights of domains given by experts from the Aging Society Research Network and LMIC Expert Panel.
Extended Data Fig. 2
Extended Data Fig. 2. Correlation (Pearson correlation test) between scoring methods and weighting schemes for overall Aging Society Index scores (Male).
Correlation (Pearson correlation test) between scoring methods and weighting schemes for overall Aging Society Index scores for males. Note: Combined weights refer to the average of weights of domains given by experts from the Aging Society Research Network and LMIC Expert Panel.
Extended Data Fig. 3
Extended Data Fig. 3. Correlation (Pearson correlation test) between scoring methods and weighting schemes for overall Aging Society Index scores (Female).
Correlation (Pearson correlation test) between scoring methods and weighting schemes for overall Aging Society Index scores for females. Note: Combined weights refer to the average of weights of domains given by experts from the Aging Society Research Network and LMIC Expert Panel.
Extended Data Fig. 4
Extended Data Fig. 4. Correlation between Global aging society index and other indices.
Correlation between Global aging society index and Active aging index, Global agewatch index and human development index.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Divisions. World Population Ageing 2019 (UN, 2020).
    1. Eggleston, K. & Mukherjee, A. Financing longevity: the economics of pensions, health, and long-term care introduction to the special issue. J. Econ. Ageing13, 1–6 (2019).
    1. Global AgeWatch Index 2015: Insight Report (HelpAge International, 2015).
    1. Steinmayr, D., Weichselbaumer, D. & Winter-Ebmer, R. Gender differences in active ageing: findings from a new individual-level index for European Countries. Soc. Indic. Res.151, 691–721 (2020).

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