Living longer, living well: Making our golden years shine

Living longer, living well: Making our golden years shine

In the past and even now, it is normal for people to work till their 50s and 60s, and save most of their leisure for retirement. But as life expectancies go up, and people work longer, the timetable might have to change.

"The time for leisure is now," said British economist Professor Andrew Scott from the London Business School and member of the International Advisory Panel of the Health District @ Queenstown(HD@QT). Rather than waiting till retirement to enjoy life fully, we might consider a four-day work week, part-time work, or, even more radically, joining the workforce at a later age, he added.

"If we're living longer…we do have to work for longer, but in return, let's get leisure now - let's not have it all at the end," said Prof Scott, who was speaking at NUS during a talk organised by HD@QT on his recent book, The Longevity Imperative: Building a Better Society for Healthier, Longer Lives. The talk was followed by a discussion moderated by Professor John Eu-Li Wong, Executive Director of NUS Centre for Population Health and Co-Chair of the HD@QT Steering Committee.

The event, which was held on 19 August 2024, drew 140 attendees with guests including Dr Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry; Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Culture, Community and Youth; and Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

Prof Scott, a big proponent of raising the retirement age to keep pace with higher life expectancies, added that many developed economies are grappling with an ageing population. A key challenge for many is managing a drop in workforce participation rates among people aged 55 to 60.

Singapore, one of the world's fastest-ageing countries that will attain "super-aged" status in less than 30 years, does not suffer as badly from the trend. It has a retirement age of 63, and a substantial 70.6 per cent employment rate in 2022 for seniors aged 55 to 64.

Responding to a question on what could be done to get people to re-skill and remain "fulfilled" well into their 90s, Prof Scott said silvering societies needed to invest in lifelong learning to ensure continued relevancy for its people - which Singapore is doing with its SkillsFuture framework.

"If we're living for longer, we have to invest in our human capital. It's our health, our skills, our relationships…We can't afford just to focus just on educating people early on, we have to think about lifelong learning," he said.

Prevention is better than intervention

Beyond staying productive and purposeful during the golden years, it is vital that people also look after their health. As the old maxim goes, prevention is better than cure.

Singapore's HD@QT is at the heart of the city state's push for comprehensive healthcare, he highlighted in response to a question from the moderator, Prof Wong.

"Staying healthy is different from treating diseases, and the health system is about treating diseases," noted Prof Scott. In comparison, he said HD@QT is different as its attention is shifted much more to the prevention of diseases rather than intervention.

HD@QT is a pilot programme spearheaded by NUS, NUHS, and the Housing & Development Board to increase healthy longevity, enable purposeful longevity, promote intergenerational bonding, and support a community of all ages.The Health District has been rolling out a slew of activities since 2021 to promote healthy ageing.

Public and private institutions, Prof Scott remarked, should encourage healthier lifestyles so that more diseases associated with ageing, such as diabetes and dementia, can be prevented. This means promoting healthier food options and active lifestyles, as well as improving environmental factors such as air quality.

"As we're living longer and longer, the diseases that we're getting now are the chronic diseases, the long-lasting diseases. What we've got to focus on is keeping people healthy," he stressed.

"What we've done very well is increase life expectancy. We've postponed the dying…We need to focus on keeping people healthy for longer," said Prof Scott.

Ageing is not a distant problem

All this should start sooner rather than later, with Prof Scott urging younger people to realise that ageing is not just a distant problem. It is, in fact, shaped by their individual choices and habits today that will impact how well or badly they age.

"An ageing society is not about old people. It's about you," he remarked. "What are you going to do now to support your ageing well?"

He added: "Now begins the second longevity revolution. We have to change how we age."