On Thursday, 21st April 2016 the International Longevity Centre and the Global Aging Institute hosted a roundtable discussion with European Commissioners on maximising the potential of Europe's ageing population in reference to Asian best practice, supported by Prudential Plc. The discussion focused on how different Asian countries address the demographic challenge posed by an ageing society, and how they respond to the social mood relating to work and retirement; participants also considered how healthcare can meet the challenges posed by rapidly ageing societies across Europe.

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Maximising the potential of Europe’s
ageing population. Lessons for Europe’s
Growth Strategy from East Asia and the
rest of the world
International Longevity Centre and Global Aging
Institute lunch supported by Prudential plc
April 2016

2. Attendees
• Richard Jackson, Global Aging Institute
• David Sinclair, ILC-UK
• Mikkel Barslund, CEPS
• Gwenael Beauvais, European Institute for Asian
Studies
• Nathalie Berger, European Commission – DG
FISMA
• Francesco Briganti, AEIP
• Chris Daykin, Actuarial Association of Europe
• Bernard Delbecque, EFAMA
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• Per Eckefeldt, European Commission – DG
EcoFin
• Shiori Katsuta, European Institute for Asian
Studies
• Laurie McIntosh, Duke University – USA
• Sibylle Reichert, Pensioenfederatie
• Tom Terry, Global Aging Institute
• Fritz von Nordheim, European Commission – DG
Employment
• Peter Wintlev-Jensen, European Commission –
DG Connect
• Kevin Bowman, Prudential plc
• Tim Fassam, Prudential UK
• Justyna Slominska, FTI Consulting

3. Background
On 21 April, ILC-UK and Global Aging Institute and Prudential hosted a lunch debate, which attracted
various stakeholders including policymakers, industry associations and academic representatives. To
introduce the debate, Richard Jackson, President of the Global Aging Institute and one of the world’s
foremost authorities on ageing, explored the emerging demographic, economic, and social trends shaping
the future of retirement.
Richard discussed his most recent research findings on East Asia and the similarities and differences
between the outlook there and in Europe. The key differences named by Richard included:
• different state support for pillar I pensions between East Asia and Europe;
• the fact that families in East Asia rely on families to provide money for retirement.
Richard stressed that both the European and the East Asia systems are under stress, for different reasons.
Regardless of the implemented policy, some countries are ageing rapidly and this poses a hurdle that
creates long-term problems. He also mentioned the role and social value of immigrants.
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4. Opening remarks
Richard opened the debate by with some key questions:
• How do you adjust adequacy of retirement income?
• How do you maintain growth?
• How do you promote productive aging?
• How do we ensure that health spend is rising?
• What is the ‘new old’?
David Sinclair, the Director at ILC –UK, said that the speed of ageing varies depending on the country.
Interest rates are at its lowest in many geographies and this create a huge pressure to increase
consumption.
With young people overspending and the older underspending, the challenge is to keep productivity
growing.
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5. Roundtable discussion – Key points
Government and Legislation
• Different Member States handle the demographic challenge in a more or less successful way.
• Welfare should be equally spent, both on older and younger people.
• Over saving leads to piles of money being set aside on accounts with low interest rates.
• How can we develop a European market for pension products? And which tool should we use in order
to: incentivise the market for pension products; to invest in savings; to invest in personal pension
products and get assets to support the long-term economy?
• The projections on which pension law is being built should be more adequate.
• There was a consensus at the table that extending working life is inevitable.
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6. Roundtable discussion – Key points
Social Mood
• People do not understand the benefits of the pension system.
• There is a need to re-design the ‘new old’ i.e. the definition of ‘old’ - pension age and retirement age
should not be synonyms.
• Financial capability in older age is limited and many elderly people need financial advice.
• The decline in the size of the working age population started in 2011 and this came at the same time
as the recession.
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7. Roundtable discussion – Key points
Healthcare
• Participants agreed that healthcare systems should be optimised as people are healthier now than in
the past.
• Disability in older age has decreased but mobility rates have not and for this we need a sustainable
solution.
• Diseases change: we observe less heart disease but more cases of dementia and cancer.
• One of the ideas was to create a sustainable home to shift the care delivery from institution to home.
• Technology could be used to overcome the health challenges.
• Some studies show that longer working equals healthier life.
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