2012 is the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. The European Year seeks to raise awareness of the issues and the best ways of dealing with them. But most of all it seeks to encourage all policymakers and stakeholders to set themselves goals and take action to meet them. 2012 should go beyond debating; it should start bringing tangible results.

Active Ageing implies optimising opportunities for physical, social and mental health to enable older people to take an active part in society without discrimination and to enjoy an independent and good quality of life. On the other hand, creating an intergenerational society needs awareness of each and everyone about what she or he can do for the society of all ages, urgent adaptations of family policies and innovative solutions for new working careers which are life-cycle based.

The EU is in a process of significant population ageing. From 2012, the European working-age population will start to shrink, while the over-60 population will continue to increase by about two million people a year. The strongest pressure is expected to occur during the period 2015-35 when the so-called baby-boom generation will enter retirement. 

This presents challenges for sustainable public finances, in particular the financing of health care and pensions, and could weaken the solidarity between generations. But this view neglects the significant actual and potential contribution that older people — and the baby-boom cohorts in particular — can make to society.

The European Year for Active Ageing is designed to serve as a framework for raising awareness, for identifying and disseminating good practice and, most importantly, for encouraging policymakers and stakeholders at all levels to promote active ageing. The aim is to invite these players to commit to specific action and goals so that tangible achievements can be presented during the European Year in 2012.

Active ageing includes creating more opportunities for older people to continue working, to stay healthy longer and to continue to contribute to society in other ways, for example through volunteering needs to be supported by a wide range of policies at all levels of governance. The EU has a role to play in areas such as employment, social protection and inclusion, public health, information society and transport, but the primary role is for national, regional and local governments, as well as civil society and the social partners.

Statistical data on active ageing in Europe

To statistically document the European Year, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, issued a new publication "Active ageing and solidarity between generations – a statistical portrait of the European Union 2012", prepared in collaboration with the European Commission's Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. This publication presents data on topics such as demography, employment, transition from work to retirement, healthcare, living conditions and participation in society. A summary of the publication can be found in the Press Release of Eurostat.

Some significant data are the following. The proportion of the population in the EU27 who are aged 55 and over rose from 25% in 1990 to 30% in 2010, and is estimated to reach around 40% by 2060. The share of persons aged 55 and over in the total population increased between 1990 and 2010 in all Member States.

Employment of the older population has strongly increased over the last decade. While the employment rate for those aged 20-64 in the EU27 increased by 2.1 percentage points (from 66.5% in 2000 to 68.6% in 2010), the rates for older age groups rose more sharply, by 10.6 pp for those aged 55-59 (from 50.3% to 60.9%) and by 7.5 pp for those aged 60 to 64 (from 23.0% to 30.5%). The employment rate remained at around 5% for those aged 65 and over.

Europeans are ready for active ageing

To mark the start of the 2012 European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity of Generations, the Commission presented on 13 January 2012 a new Eurobarometer survey showing that 71% of Europeans are aware that Europe's population is getting older, but only 42% are concerned about this development. This is in stark contrast with the perceptions of policy makers, who regard demographic ageing as a major challenge. For most citizens, people aged 55 years and older play a major role in key areas of society. Over 60% believe that we should be allowed to continue working after retirement age and one third says that they would like to work longer themselves. Surprisingly, people closer to retirement are more likely to share this view than the younger generation.

The Eurobarometer survey covers five areas: overall perceptions of age and older people; older people in the workplace; retirement and pensions; voluntary work and support for older people and an age-friendly environment.

The survey shows how definitions of 'young' and 'old' differ significantly across countries. In Malta, Portugal and Sweden, people under 37 years are considered young, whereas in Cyprus and Greece people are considered young up to the age of 50. On average, Europeans believe that we start being regarded as old just before 64 and are no longer considered young from the age of 41.8 years. Perceptions also vary with age and sex – women feel that old age begins slightly later than men (65.0 years versus 62.7 years respectively).

In terms of having a job, only one in three Europeans agrees with the idea that the official retirement age will have to be increased by 2030, even though this is now a clear policy priority in many Member States. However, there is strong support (61%) for the idea that people should be allowed to continue working once they have reached the official retirement age. 53% reject the idea of a compulsory retirement age, but there are huge differences across Member States.

Although the typical pensionable age is 65 years, the average exit age from the labour force in 2009 was about 61.5 years. 42% of Europeans believe that they will be capable of doing the work they are currently doing beyond the age of 65, while 17% expect that they will not be able to carry on in their current job until they are 60. One third of Europeans say that they would like to continue working after they reach retirement age, and the idea of combining a part-time job and a partial pension is more appealing than full retirement to almost two thirds of Europeans.

Active ageing is not just about employment. Around one quarter of Europeans (including those over 55) say they are engaged in voluntary work. In countries where there is less of a volunteering tradition, a higher proportion of people say that they have helped or provided support to other people outside their own household. 36% of Europeans over the age of 55 have provided such support. 15% of respondents over 55 take care of an older family member and 42% have done so in the past.

Objectives of the European Year 2012

The European Year 2012 for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations seeks to raise awareness of the contribution of older people to society and to promote measures that create better opportunities for older people to remain active.

The European Year 2012 covers three dimensions of active ageing:

Active ageing in employment. Encouraging older workers to stay in employment requires notably the improvement of working conditions and their adaptation to the health status and needs of older workers, updating their skills by providing better access to life long learning and the review of tax and benefit systems to ensure that there are effective incentives for working longer.

Participation in society. Improving the opportunities and conditions for older people to contribute to society as volunteers or family carers and to participate in society, thus avoiding social isolation and many of the associated problems and risks.

Independent living. Health promotion and preventive health care through measures that maximise healthy life years and prevent dependency as well as making the environment (public buildings, infrastructure, transport, buildings) more age-friendly allowing older people to stay as independent as possible.

The European Year seeks to raise awareness of the issues and the best ways of dealing with them. But most of all it seeks to encourage all policymakers and stakeholders to set themselves goals and take action to meet them. 2012 should go beyond debating; it should start bringing tangible results.

The Year should promote innovative solutions to economic and social challenges facing the ageing European population. It should also help empower older people to stay in good physical and mental health and contribute more actively to the labour market and to their communities. In fact, Active ageing can give the baby-boom generation and tomorrow's older adults the opportunity to:

• stay in the workforce and share their experience
• keep playing an active role in society
• live as healthy and fulfilling lives as possible.

It is also key to maintaining solidarity between generations in societies with rapidly increasing numbers of older people.

The challenge for politicians and stakeholders will be to improve opportunities for active ageing in general and for living independently, acting in areas as diverse as employment, health care, social services, adult learning, volunteering, housing, IT services or transport.

The European Year aims to encourage all policymakers and stakeholders to set themselves specific commitments related to active ageing and to take action to meet these goals. The commitments can be made public on the website of the European Year. Communication actions with general public, with stakeholders, decision makers and journalists will be organised at national and European level.

EY2012 coalition

The EY2012 coalition currently includes some 40 European organisations who see the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations as an opportunity to address age discrimination and demographic change in a way that is fair and sustainable for all ages.

Members

AGE Platform Europe

Assembly European Regions (AER)

Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA)

Autism-Europe aisbl

Caritas Europa

CECODHAS - HOUSING EUROPE

CEV (European Volunteer Centre)

Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE)

CSR Europe

ELISAN

Eurocarers

Eurochild

Eurocommerce

Eurodiaconia

Eurofound

EuroHealthNet

European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN)

European Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing (EAHSA)

European Association of Paritarian Institutions of Social Protection (AEIP)

European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (Eucis-Lll)

European Disability Forum (EDF)

European Federation of Retired and Older People (FERPA)

European Foundation Centre

European Health and Fitness Association (EHFA)

European Network Against Racism (ENAR)

European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation (ENGSO)

European Parkinson's Disease Association (EPDA)

European Social Network (ESN)

European Union Federation of Youth Hostel Associations (EUFED)

European Women’s Lobby (EWL)

European Youth Forum (YFJ)

Fédération Européenne des Femmes Actives au Foyer

HelpAge International

International Association of Mutual Benefit Societies (AIM)

International Diabetes Federation (IDF)

Mental Health Europe (MHE)

Red Cross/EU Office

The European Network of National Civil Society Associations (ENNA)

The International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA)

Participating countries

The participating countries (27 EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) each appointed a national coordinator who organises national activities, helps promoting local and regional activities and tries to involve all relevant stakeholders in the European Year. They also presented a work programme to the European Commission outlining the national activities planned throughout 2012.

Click on the name of the country to see the national coordinator.