Enabling environments for active and healthy ageing in EU countries
A. Zaidi
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AbstractThe active ageing discourse and its relationship with the goal of promotion of human capabilities are discussed in this paper. It is argued that the loss of certain kinds of personal capabilities (such as physical strength) is inevitable as a person grows old; this decline is exaggerated and generalized by different layers of social, economic and physical environments in which older people live. A combination of low personal capabilities and restricting environments can therefore hold back older persons in taking advantage of opportunities available to them and/or in being resilient to threats that affect them. One of the key societal challenges is therefore to facilitate age friendly enabling environments to mitigate the adverse impact of population ageing. The evidence presented here provides a first snapshot of the differential extent of enabling environments that predominate European Union countries. A key finding is that the Central and Eastern European countries exhibit the highest potential for improvements in enabling environments for active and healthy ageing.Keywords: older people; human capabilities; active and healthy ageing; Europe
A. Zaidi (2014). Enabling environments for active and healthy ageing in EU countries. Gerontechnology, 12(4), 201-208
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2014.12.4.003.00