Executive summary

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but none of us are getting any younger. In fact, you’re aging as you read this and by 2050, over 20% of the world’s population will be over 60 years old.¹ While living longer is great (and is directly related to improvements in global nutrition, hygiene and health care… yay science), many would argue “what’s the point?” if you’re not healthy too. Which brings up the importance of health-span, or healthy lifespan, the years someone lives free of chronic disease and disability. That’s another story entirely as health-spans aren’t increasing as quickly as lifespans.² Take Japan, a country with some of the longest-lived people in the world, as an example. There, from 1990 to 2010, the life expectancy of men increased by 3.3 years but the healthy life expectancy only increased by 2.2 years.² So we’re seeing a global trend of living more years but not necessarily healthy years.