Key Questions and Answers About What Aging Well Really Means
We asked a lot of experts, “What does aging well mean?” We shared the results in a white paper and in a webinar … and we received a few questions. So we thought we would share some of those questions and answers and hopefully keep you engaged as we continue to explore what aging well means.
First, though, from the Aging Well Initiative team, a BIG thank you to all who joined the webinar recently. This was the first webinar in what we hope will be a series from the Aging Well Initiative as we publish and share more research studies this year.
It was wonderful to see that over 550 people registered and to have so many of you stay for the whole of the webinar. It was also wonderful to receive so much feedback, both within the chat room during the webinar and also messages and questions to individual members of the panel.
If you have not done so, you can access our first report, where we interviewed more than 20 experts on various aspects of aging, aging societies, and aging well to give us their opinions on what aging well really means.
Based on that report, we held a webinar to discuss the findings and what we found of greatest surprise and interest. Find the webinar here.
A number of participants raised some good questions throughout the webinar. Below are brief answers to some of those that seemed to be of interest to many people:
“When and how was the study completed?”
In the first quarter of 2026, we undertook one-on-one discussions with a range of experts on different aspects of aging populations, aging well, demographics, etc., from the USA, Japan, UK, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Canada, India, and Indonesia. Each was a 30-minute chat around a single question: “Aging well is a hot trend. What do you think it means, and what trends are you seeing within it?” We allowed the experts to give free-flowing answers with no real direction. This allowed us to get a much broader understanding of how the aging well trend was being interpreted. The report includes more details about the process, the experts, etc. This is, of course, a subject that will continue to evolve, and the initiative group will be monitoring new developments and attitudes to the subject. But please do reach out to the Initiative if you want to know more.
And now to answer some of your specific questions:
Imani Milima asked “It sounds like we should “prepare” for aging – community, eating well, physical and cognitive activity?”
Yes, all of these are important elements in an individual’s aging well. What was of real surprise to us was that most of the experts we talked to were less interested in the “eating, exercising” space and more focused on issues around staying socially active, engaged, looking forward, being involved in their own future, and government and society preparedness. In our next forthcoming report, where we surveyed 1,000 people over 50 in each of five countries, you will find that we discovered this was also true, but there are differences in approach and attitude between markets.
Imani Milima also asked: “Does the study unpack the Western vs. non-Western expectations for aging well, e.g., family dynamics + broader social interactions?”
As stated above, our upcoming study will explore the differences between the USA, Japan, Nigeria, Costa Rica, and Denmark and how people over 50 in each market think of aging well. The five markets chosen allowed us to really look at the issue globally and from very different country perspectives. Details of the release of that study will be announced soon.
However, we also purposely asked experts from a mix of markets in our “Expert Opinion” study. You will note that contributors from countries like Indonesia, India, and Thailand were more likely to point out that cultural and social norms meant that aging populations were expected to be part of an everyday integrated society. They also noted that as countries “develop,” the separation of older people from family and integration becomes more of an issue. They noted that seemingly part of “progress” is the breakdown of traditional intergenerational relationships and societal inclusion. We will be exploring further how, as countries and cultures evolve, attitudes toward and inclusion of the aging population change.
At the same time, as we pointed out on the webinar, we are seeing strong moves in markets like Singapore, Japan, and even Thailand as governments and communities attempt to “bring older people back into society.”
FYI … if you are interested in how different countries are approaching issues around aging societies and how they can be more integrated and digitally connected, you may want to follow the DIHAC (Digitally Inclusive, Healthy Ageing Communities) group. Their monthly webinars share a great variety of studies from around the world. You can watch Dave McCaughan’s recent reporting of the Aging Well Initiative research on a recent webinar here https://digital-ageing.com/dihac-meet36/.
Wendy Nierel Bosalavage and Marvin Tejada, among others, asked:
“What about multigenerational living?” and “What about multigenerational living/dwelling arrangements in age-appropriate architecture and community planning?”
Some of our experts did talk about the need to reconsider multigenerational living and multigenerational learning and participation. As one expert, Drago Djourov, has pointed out, we are seeing this issue being raised more and more in markets like Singapore and Japan, where isolation of older people threatens to become a major problem.
In our investigation, we did hear experts asking for more integration and more state and community involvement in the provision and encouragement of intergenerational and cross-generational exposure. We heard of many initiatives where groups and communities are encouraging more interaction: university students being given cheap/free accommodation in senior living spaces in return for interacting with—and learning from—older residents, for example. We are planning later in 2026 to start developing guidelines for greater intergenerational living and community, so watch out for that … and we will be asking the GWI community for ideas and help.
(And FYI, watch out for a blog post Dave will share soon on the “80:20 crisis in Japan,” where the government is deeply concerned by the rising numbers of older men dying alone and undiscovered for weeks, sometimes years.)
Ariane asked: “I miss the acknowledgment of the deep wisdom gained from aging—how do we ensure that this wisdom/guidance is passed on?”
While the experts we talked to did not specifically answer this question, the discussions did, in many cases, cover the need for continuous learning and sharing on a global, national, community, and personal scale. Experiences learned are precious, as Aki Kubo from Japan said to us in one interview. He was focused on the need to financially prepare yourself for aging. Aki wrote a book on the subject a few years ago, unfortunately only available in Japanese but full of good advice, including the need to talk to others “who have gone before you.”
Trevor Gore from England is one of that country’s leading experts on self-care. He too spoke of the need to learn from others. He defines self-care as being all about preparation and prevention, not cure, and the need for people, as they age, to look, listen, and share experiences and mistakes.
As the Initiative grows, we hope to explore and share more examples of how we can “learn from those who are aging well.”
Michael Pessman asked: “How much does having regular access to a doctor really shape whether someone ages well, versus everything else—diet, movement, connection?”
Very important! But as some of our experts have pointed out, it is not always available. Bangkok-based Kim Walker has been working to build consultancies for companies wanting to focus on aging populations for two decades. His big learning was that we need to understand the huge differences in financial access and capabilities between populations and, therefore, access to simple and more complex needs. Unfortunately, in many countries, the number and availability of doctors is thin at best.
Some experts suggested AI may help resolve this shortage to a certain extent. Initiative member Dave McCaughan was, for example, involved in an experiment in Bangladesh using non-digital feature phones and an early AI platform to provide doctor-driven advice to poor rural villages. More experimentation is and will happen to help supplement doctors.
Expert Trevor Gore is really focused, as part of the self-care movement, on raising the profile of pharmacists and pharmacists’ assistants to provide advice and support that would include lifestyle support.
We have and will also report on initiatives by governments to encourage aging populations toward greater health and wellness. See some of our blog posts, like https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/global-wellness-institute-blog/2025/12/16/51133/, and how the Japanese government is focused on prevention rather than medical professionals only being used when intervention is maybe too late.
We also received a number of questions that might be described as being about the spiritual side of aging well … e.g.,
“Also, how do we make peace with change and impermanence?” “What role do you see spiritual well-being playing in aging?” “How do societies integrate holistic planning ahead for one’s death while living and pursuing positive tomorrows?”
Some of these go beyond this initial research study, and we hope we can look further into them in the future.
One key area we did discover was the need for “purpose”.
Not “big purpose,” such as trying to solve the world’s problems, but more in tune with ikigai, the Japanese practice of daily purpose in life. This could be as simple as taking a walk in the park, or, on a slightly more spiritual scale, forest bathing; taking time each morning to make a cup of tea; or planning to ensure a regular conversation with your neighbors. In their own way, many experts talked about the need to “focus ahead” and take an approach of not aging well so much as “living new lives.”
Areas we will continue to explore.
As with all good market research, our first report raised many more issues for us to explore. If you have more questions or suggestions, please do get in touch with us.
The Aging Well Initiative team will be launching two new pieces of research soon:
“Advertising and the Aging Well Category” is another expert report where we interviewed 25 leading creative directors from advertising agencies around the world about what are good and bad examples of advertising in the broad aging well space and what guidelines they felt would help make better communication for any government, company, or brand offering aging well offerings. The report will be published by the end of July 2026 … watch out for it on our initiative web page.
“Ageing Well Around the Globe: Insights from Five Countries” will be a series of reports based on a survey of 1,000 people between 50 and 100 years of age in each of the USA, Japan, Nigeria, Costa Rica, and Denmark, where we asked what they thought aging well meant, how they are aging well, what practices they are undertaking, and what they are looking for. We selected five very different markets to help us understand similarities, differences, and opportunities. We hope to start publishing reports in August 2026.
The Aging Well Initiative is also planning other new projects for the second half of 2026, and we look forward to your ongoing interest and support.
