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Population ageing has profound implications for many facets of human life. An ageing population will affect everything from economies, labor markets to health and social care. This prospect requires a better understanding of the implications and possibilities posed by population ageing as well as the situation of older persons themselves. While the older population is growing at an accelerated speed, many gaps in ageing related statistics and data exist, affecting the ability to develop targeted policies and programmes that address ageing related challenges.
Recently, demand for evidence based data and statistics on older persons has been generated by the negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. In order to implement a comprehensive Post-2015 Development Agenda, efforts to define a strategic framework for statistics under the socalled ‘transformative agenda for statistics’, point at integrating and broadening the scope of statistics and data collection.
The agenda introduces innovations to incorporate non-traditional sources that so far have not been utilized in official statistics. These developments provide an opportunity for addressing the gaps and needs posed by ageing.
In this context, the Focal Point on Ageing is organizing an Expert Group Meeting on “Global ageing and the data revolution - the way forward in the post-2015 environment” in New York on 7-9 July 2015. The meeting aims at exploring how and which new and non-traditional data sources can support the policy and programme development on ageing issues. The outcome of the EGM seeks responds to the need for sound ageing related statistics and data as well as the needs that will arise from the targets contained in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2015 environment.
