1. 1 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe Andrzej Ryś - Director Public Health European Commission DG SANCO 28 November 2008

2. 2 Healthy Ageing

3. 3 Changes in the European society The number of elderly people in the EU will increase significantly after 2010 and until around 2030 (+ 37.4%). The European continent is the only region in the world whose population is set to decrease in the years to come, with a growth rate of -0.28 per cent

4. 4 What does it mean – elderly? Retirement? Bad Health Status? Not useful for the society anymore? NO! Elderly are healthier, living longer and are more active as in the past!

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6. 6 Definition – elderly? The definition of elderly by SHARE is 50+ which is not in line with other definitions of elderly. Some definitions counting elderly above 65 where in several MS people go to retirement. A common definition of elderly is not available

7. 7 EU Policy on Ageing At the Lisbon Council in March 2000, the EU leaders noted the challenges Europe is facing from globalization, an ageing population, and the emergence to monitor the development of the ageing society

8. 8 The EU Health Strategy: challenges White paper on Nutrition Communication on Alcohol Tobacco control strategy Health information and Health Portal ECDC Interactions with WHO Patients’ Rights in Cross-border Healthcare Health investments through Structural Funds etc Pharmaceutical Forum Projects funded Cross-sectoral work Organs, blood, tissues and cells Pharmaceuticals Medical devices Food safety

9. 9 The EU Health Strategy: Content Four Principles A value-driven approach Health is Wealth Health in all Policies Global Health Three Strategic objectives Fostering Good Health in an Ageing Europe Protecting Citizens from Health Threats Supporting Dynamic Health Systems and New Technologies

10. 10 What can the EU do ? The strategy foresees: A lifecycle approach to increase HLY by promoting health and preventing diseases in particular by supporting healthy choices (e.g. nutrition, exercise…) Actions to promote Healthy ageing/ health of older people Projects financed by the Health Programme

11. 11 DG SANCO Monitoring the development of the ageing society is carried out by DG SANCO with indicator develop by the Commission. The Healthy Life Year Indicator

12. 12 Health Life Year Indicator What we are measuring with the Healthy Life Year Indicator (HLY)? The number of remaining years that a person of a certain age is still supposed to live without disability

13. 13 Why is it so important to know the years people are living without disabilities? There several answers – Quality of life – fun, joy and wellbeing Economic aspects – people can work longer, participate longer in social life (consumption, travel….) Health – health care, hospitals, doctors and nurses

14. 14 Healthy Life Years – trends in the EU To stress this point at the beginning, HLY are not to compare countries! It is a trend! In general people live longer and healthier but the target of increasing participation of older people into the labour force will be difficult to meet

15. 15 In autumn 2008 this report was published. Here you can find for all EU Member States EU (2004) single country reports

16. 16 Where LE indicates Life Expectancy, HLY indicates Healthy Life Years, LEwML indicates Life Expectancy with moderate activity limitations and LEwSM indicates Life Expectancy with severe activity limitations. Graph from the HLY report

17. 17 HLY and SHARE? Do they have someting in commen? Yes – they do! SHARE is one of the tools to calculate the HLY indicators.

18. 18 Conclusion Healthy ageing is the key for a sustainable Europe Europe needs to increase Healthy Life Years – and channel its programmes to support healthy ageing EU, governments, NGOs, doctors – all have a role in promoting healthy ageing.

19. 19 This is our aim – ENJOY YOUR LIFE!