Multi-generational sustainable development: How longevity can help achieve the SDGs

Eradicating poverty, hunger and inequality, combatting climate change and solving world peace by 2030 – goals set as part of the United Nations’ Agenda for Sustainable Development – seem difficult to achieve. In order to achieve progress, we must approach these challenges through a variety of atypical lenses.

In the five years we have left to carry out the SDGs, we must address the changing needs of our ageing society and approach them with longevity in mind.

For many people, increased lifespans bring a whole slew of physical, mental and financial difficulties. Research shows that individuals can expect to live around one-fifth of their lives with illness, with many individuals also lacking adequate savings to sustain themselves throughout their longer lives.

Additionally, the benefits and risks of longevity are not distributed equally. To ensure that all individuals can maximise their extra years, we must promote longevity as the “long duration of individual resilience.”

In 2024, the World Economic Forum published a report on the six principles of the longevity economy, providing a helpful lens through which we can address the core challenges posed by longevity. By acting on these principles, we can meaningfully advance towards achieving multiple SDGs.

Five-year-olds today are likely to live until they’re 100. Assuming the retirement age remains in the 60s, those five-year-olds may need to finance a 40-year retirement. Yet, an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development survey showed that around 40% of adults do not have more than six months’ worth of savings – roughly 474 months short of the amount they need to fully cover their retirement (notwithstanding unexpected financial shocks).

And while social programmes, including public pensions, do play an important role in keeping older adults out of poverty, demographic ageing, economic troubles and political instability make their long-term viability uncertain.

Ending “poverty in all its forms” will require us to ensure that the increasing older adult population does not fall into poverty by promoting financial resilience and universal financial education. With proper financial education, individuals can effectively navigate financial systems and build up savings, increasing their economic resilience and making them less reliant on public pensions that may not be solvent by the time they retire.

Lifespans may have increased, but health spans (life spent free from disease) have not kept pace – the gap between the two is currently nine years. These extra years of poor health are emotionally and financially draining. An increasing number of older adults will come to need costly long-term care, which, contrary to what many think, is not covered by typical health insurance plans.

As a result, many individuals may find themselves in the difficult position of choosing between the care they need and their financial well-being.

Healthy ageing practices and financial resilience will be critical to increasing good health and well-being for all.

Promoting healthy ageing practices will help to bridge the gap between life and health spans, reducing the need for costly long-term care in later years. But with the perfect application of healthy ageing practices, health shocks or the need for long-term care are still possible. That is why ensuring that individuals are financially resilient enough to treat and withstand any health issues without exhausting their finances is important.

Ageism and a lack of adequate skills in our rapidly evolving digital world are prematurely pushing older adults out of the workforce, limiting their ability to save money and removing a source of connection and purpose.

There is a clear call to action here – providing opportunities for lifelong skill building can ensure that all individuals, regardless of age, are equipped with the skills they need to retain decent work.

As with health, a long, prosperous life requires intervention before someone reaches old age. Research shows that early childhood education is linked to higher earnings later in life, meaning that the education a five-year-old receives could very well impact their ability to find decent work and accumulate wealth as a 65-year-old.

Like for older adults, the opportunity for lifelong skill building is critical in ensuring that individuals can acquire relevant skills for employment no matter what cards they were dealt as children. This case also highlights the importance of financial resilience in promoting access to education and economic growth – if families have the resources to send their children to school without needing them to step away and help the family earn money, those children have a better chance at prospering in their longer lives.

Inequality may not have been explicitly mentioned in the prior paragraphs but it runs through all aspects of longevity: marginalized communities often have higher poverty rates, worse health outcomes, less access to quality education and frequently face discrimination when seeking employment. In short, inequality limits individual resilience for some more than others.

Reducing inequality will require that we intentionally address longevity inequalities. We need to acknowledge meaningful differences in pension equity, employment opportunities and even lifespans.

In the United States alone, the life expectancy among neighbourhoods with predominantly Black populations compared with white populations, less than 10 miles apart, can have as much as a 30-year gap in life expectancy. By promoting all six principles of the longevity economy, we can help reduce inequality in all its forms.

Financial resilience and education, along with opportunities for lifelong skill building can help break patterns of systemic inequality and give individuals the necessary tools to improve their economic condition.

Healthy ageing and social connection can close health gaps, allow people to work longer and foster feelings of inclusion and belonging for all.

With just five and a half years left to achieve 17 SDGs, we may not make this happen but we can make meaningful progress by promoting a healthy, prosperous longevity for all.