Active ageing and living condition of older persons across Italian regions

Abstract

The ageing of the population is reshaping a large part of the economic and social order, with pervasive and transversal consequences that reflect on production, consumption, labour, and especially on welfare. To govern a development of this kind, it is essential to have an innovative approach, capable of stimulating targeted and systematic policies, and capable of facing the structural change of ageing, transforming it from a burden to a resource for our society. Since the beginning of the new millennium, there has been a gradual attention to the phenomenon of demographic ageing at an international level, which has prompted the European Union to proclaim 2012 as the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. Recommendations from the international organizations to individual countries on adopting active ageing policies led to the creation of the Active Ageing Index (AAI). Istat has extensively contributed to the AAI interacting with its international partners (UNECE and the European Commission).There is no doubt that AAI is a useful tool, both for measuring achieved progress in the area of active ageing, and for promoting the implementation and the evaluation of policies aimed at improving any potential aspect that does not show satisfactory results. AAI consists of four dimensions and 22 indicators. Using nationally representative data, it was first disseminated in Italy as the product of an experiment intended to provide overall and individual domain data on a subnational level placing Istat at the forefront among European statistical institutes.