Silver Population – The New ‘Gold’ for Our Society

Abstract

Global demographic trends show an ageing population, concentrated mainly in Europe and Asia, in countries such as Italy, China and Japan. This can be seen either as an issue, considering the social protection system, either as a big opportunity in keeping elders active. In both cases, the importance of modernization of social policies has become crucial around the world. In order to avoid major economic issues or social tensions, it is required to identify main areas with big impact for ageing population and consider benefits for them. The purpose of this research is to investigate the opportunities of ageing population in the context of quality of life, based on the nine dimensions proposed by Eurostat, showing that silver (population) is the new gold for society. As a preliminary research, ageing will impact material living conditions, health, leisure and social interactions. For instance, in medicine there will be a challenge to switch from traditional medical checks to tele-medicine based on gadgets that monitor health or can assist persons in their daily life and fight with illness.

Keywords

• silver population
• silver economy
• quality of life
• active ageing