Introduction

Over the course of the last decade, population aging has slowly captured the attention of both policy makers and the public in Atlantic Canada. By population aging, we mean a change in the age structure of society – a society in which a far greater number of people than ever are in their senior years and proportionally fewer than ever are being born. Shifting Sands: The Changing Shape of Atlantic Canada is a 1999 Health Canada publication that examines both demographic and economic trends in the region. According to this report, if present trends continue, by the year 2011, 15% of the population of Atlantic Canada will be 65 or older and by 2036, nearly one out of every three people will be in that age group. Low birth rates, out-migration, longer lives, and a large population of aging baby boomers are expected to make Atlantic Canada one of the oldest populations in the world.

Far from being a crisis, however, population aging has been recognized as human civilization’s greatest achievement - the result of improved living conditions and medical advances. It is also recognized as one of our greatest challenges. The two major policy issues presented by population aging are providing older people with opportunities for independence, health, productivity, and protection while at the same time maintaining economic prosperity in society as a whole. These two interrelated challenges will require a broad range of economic, financial, and social changes.

“Active ageing is the process of optimizing opportunities for physical, social, and mental well-being throughout the life course, in order to extend healthy life expectancy, productivity and quality of life in older age.” s World Health Organization 2001

While policy makers in Atlantic Canada increasingly recognize the importance of planning for population aging, they have not yet identified priorities nor set targets, and few attempts have been made to develop the infrastructure to meet the increased need for health and social services.

This report is designed to stimulate action among policy makers concerned with population aging. It introduces a wide variety of approaches that three countries have taken to prepare for an older population: Finland, Japan, and Australia. The report is based on a document search of the policies and programs adopted in these three countries, with a particular focus on the determinants of active aging.

“Active ageing” is a term adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the late 1990s. It refers to continuing involvement in socially productive activities and meaningful work during later life. According to Health and Ageing, the WHO discussion paper for the Second United Nations World Assembly on Ageing, active aging depends on the following factors, or determinants, of active aging:

• social factors: education, literacy, human rights, social support, prevention of violence and abuse
  
• personal factors: biology, genetics, adaptability
  
• health and social services factors: health promotion, disease prevention, long-term care, primary care
  
• factors in the physical environment: urban/rural settings, housing, injury prevention
  
• economic factors: income, work, social protection
  
• behavioural factors: physical activity, healthy eating, cessation of tobacco use, control of alcohol abuse, inappropriate use of medication.

Gender and culture are considered cross-cutting factors because they influence all of the above determinants of active aging.

These determinants of active aging provide the analytical framework for this report.

The first purpose of the report is to examine the experience of selected countries as they address the impacts of an older population and by so doing, shed some light on our own way forward. Finland, Japan, and Australia were selected for this purpose based on three criteria:

• the age of their population
  
• the extent of reform that has taken place to address population aging
  
• the availability of detailed information about the reforms.
  

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) document, Reforms for an Ageing Society, was instrumental in this selection process.

The second purpose is to provide policy makers and senior leaders in Atlantic Canada with a variety of specific examples of reforms to support active aging.

The final purpose is to provide readers with resources for further study. Due to the abundance of measures adopted in the three countries examined, only brief descriptions of these initiatives are possible in this paper. However, many of the reforms described have been the subject of much national and international attention and numerous progress and evaluation reports. For this reason, this report is widely endnoted and includes an extensive bibliography.

The information contained in this report was found through a search of both academic and Internet-based literature on reforms for population aging. Most of the Internet-based literature was produced by federal government departments and found on government Web sites. Wherever possible, an attempt was made to verify the accuracy of the material by both consulting multiple sources and searching for evaluation reports. However, inclusion in this report does not imply that a reform has been flawless. The intent is to show the wide variety of measures that can be taken, not to guarantee that every measure has been entirely successful.

Section one of the report provides an introduction to each of the three countries studied. It provides an overview of both demographic trends and health and social systems in each country and describes the inter-sectoral policy frameworks that have been developed to address population aging.

Section two describes a myriad of mostly nation-wide policies and programs that have been implemented in these countries to support active aging. It is organized around the WHO determinants of active aging.

The concluding section highlights some common elements of the reform measures in Finland, Japan, and Australia and discusses their implications for policy in Canada and the Atlantic region.

 

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