MOVING FORWARD for an AGEING SOCIETY: Bridging the Distances

Since 2012, the OECD Science,Technology and Industry Outlook has been bringing the issue of an Ageing Society to global attention, by analysing facts and figures and investigating the complexity of this demographic and social challenge. The G8 meeting in 2013, under the presidency of the United Kingdom, recognized the importance of this subject, paying special attention to one of the major challenges connected with increasing lifeexpectancy in the population of World’s leading economies: the dramatic growth of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.The G8 Governments in their final declaration, acknowledged “… that dementia affects more than 35 million people worldwide, a number that is expected to almost double every 20 years…” and recognised its socio-economic impact “… 70 per cent of the estimated annual world-wide cost of US$604 billion is spent on informal, social and direct medical care.” In 2012, the ItalianMinistry of Education, Universities and Research – in fulfilling its mandate to advice on upcoming social challenges by setting out short, medium and long term research policy guidelines – launched a crosscutting consultation exercise on Ageing.The Italian scientific and institutional communities were asked to analyse the matter, and the results of this consultation were presented in this Position Paper, which sets forth to address the complex issue of an Ageing society in Italy, through an integrated scientific approach.