Older People Count: ensuring data is fit for purpose to create a better world for all ages

A High Level Panel was organized at UN Headquarters in New York on 9 September under the theme "Older People Count: ensuring data is fit for purpose to create a better world for all ages". The panel introduced HelpAge International’s 2015 Global AgeWatch Index and discussed how the Sustainable Development Goals will impact on issues around ageing. The event was co-sponsored by the Group of Friends of Older Persons, INPEA, NGO Committee on Ageing New York and Gray Panthers.

The objective of the event was to further awareness of issues of ageing and policy priorities of older people in the context of the forthcoming High Level Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals, and to mark the launch of the 2015 Global AgeWatch Index and its findings.

The Global AgeWatch Index, now in its 3rd year, was developed in response to core issues of concern articulated by older people. It is based on data in the international data sets and currently includes 96 countries, covering 91 per cent of the world’s population aged 60 and over. The gaps in international data on ageing for the remaining 97 UN member and observer states underline the need to improve the availability of information on ageing. The Ageing Index highlights which countries are doing best for their older populations and how this links with policies towards pensions, health, education, employment and the social environment in which older people live.