A comparison of the Global AgeWatch Index with the most commonly used indicator of population ageing, share of population aged 60 or over, shows how countries facing greater population ageing challenges score in terms of older people’s wellbeing.
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The Index indicates that Eastern European countries need to make additional policy reforms, given their current and future challenges and opportunities linked with population ageing. Ukraine (66), Russia (78) and Montenegro (83) are ranked particularly low in the Global AgeWatch Index. Eastern European countries have large and growing populations of older people but score as low as many central Asian countries.
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While there is not a strict correlation between the Global AgeWatch Index and general income inequality, there are examples of countries with lower levels of inequality doing well in the rankings. Low-inequality countries of Northern and Western Europe – Sweden (1), Norway (2), Germany (3) and Netherlands (4) – do particularly well in the Index. Similarly, the low-inequality countries of Latin America such as Uruguay (23) and Venezuela (61) perform better in the Index than highinequality neighbouring countries such as Paraguay (72), Guatemala (75) and Honduras (82).
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