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Shifting the Paradigm – from Ageing to a New Longevity

A shifting global landscape

The world is facing an unprecedented demographic shift. In 2019, the number of people aged 60 years and older was 1 billion. This is set to increase to 1.4 billion by 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050. For the first time in history, there are more people over the age of 65 than under five. Even in nations like India, often associated with youthful demographics, the number of older people will nearly double by mid-century to 300 million. 

Yet, our systems have not kept pace with these changes. Designed when life expectancy was just 45 years, institutions and systems like healthcare, education, and pensions are now outdated. With global life expectancy reaching 73 years in 2025, these systems are struggling to align lifespan with healthspan. On the one hand, this means older people don’t enjoy a high quality of life and on the other, their families and communities incur increased financial and caregiving burden. 

Imagine a world where opportunities change with the changing roles and needs of people as they grow older. A world where joy and discovery are central to the lives of older people. A world where they live with passion and purpose. 

What would it take to bring alive a world where growing older is an invitation to reimagine possibilities? 

The Potential of Social Innovators and an Emerging Paradigm

I joined Ashoka in 2003 and had the privilege of discovering many parts of the world through the lens of social innovators. For over 40 years, Ashoka has supported nearly 4,000 social entrepreneurs, or Ashoka Fellows, across 90 countries. These changemakers, who span all stages of life, have inspired millions of people to actively engage in creating social change. From their work, one truth stands out: age is never a barrier to living a meaningful and impactful life. 

In 2021, I felt it was time to take a sabbatical. Two significant things happened that year: First, my passion for health, wellbeing, and purpose shaped my days. I spent hours on inner work and exploring what it means to live well. Second, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of months living with my parents in Brazil. This experience immersed me in a new world: the world of longevity. Watching my parents navigate aging, while reflecting on my own journey of lifelong health and purpose, gave me invaluable insights and raised new questions. Especially, “If we are going to live longer, how do we live healthier and engaged in each stage of our lives? And, how can this become reality for everyone?” 

Older adults find a lot of value in staying engaged. This could look like actively participating in communities, working, volunteering, especially since older people have a lot of wisdom and experience to lend to younger people. Staying engaged enhances their personal health and happiness and strengthens family and community bonds. In terms of health, staying engaged reduces risks of chronic illness and cognitive decline, enhancing healthspan. 

Societal perceptions of older people are not as contributors and changemakers. Despite the experience and wisdom older generations carry, they are talked about and depicted as needing to be cared and innovated for rather than as co-creators and solvers themselves. This perception extends beyond changemaking into all aspects of life for older people – family and home, learning, healthcare, as well as into intangible areas such as agency and purpose. 

Inspired by these reflections, I joined my former colleague Hae-Young Lee from South Korea, who was launching a new initiative, New Longevity, to explore how social innovation can advance this field. Hae-Young and other colleagues had spent about a year gathering insights from 100 Ashoka Fellows worldwide who were addressing issues such as healthy aging, lifelong learning and contribution, workforce dynamics, caregiving, intergenerational relationships, and more. 

This initial mapping helped us understand that while many innovations are transforming the way we perceive and design for aging, we need more than isolated advancements. We need a new paradigm where everyone is a lifelong contributor, a giver. We started calling this the New Longevity paradigm. 

Making this a reality means rethinking how we view and support aging in society. It’s about challenging outdated stereotypes, creating laws that protect the rights and autonomy of older adults, supporting those who want to keep working, and designing age-friendly environments. 

Innovative solutions shaping the New Longevity landscape 

Around the world, innovations from all sectors demonstrate the potential of the New Longevity paradigm. Consider the Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe. Here, grandmothers are trained to provide basic mental health support through cognitive behavioral therapy. These sessions take place on benches in parks or clinics, and over 2,000 grandmothers have helped more than 600,000 clients.

In Bogotá, Colombia, public spaces have been reimagined as hubs of care. The Care Blocks initiative creates community-based centers that offer professional training, wellness programs, and income opportunities for caregivers. These centers also provide essential care services for children, older adults, and people with disabilities, supporting both caregivers and those they serve.

Education, too, is being transformed. The Age-Friendly University Network ensures older adults have access to lifelong learning. These programs allow people to pursue degrees, explore new interests, or simply engage in cultural and social opportunities well into later life.

Work is evolving as well. Institutions like WisdomCircle in India, Labora in Brazil, Travesia100 in Chile, CoGenerate in the United States, promote intergenerational collaboration and connect retirees with organizations seeking their expertise. These individuals can contribute to meaningful projects at their own pace, finding fulfillment and sometimes financial support.

Even family structures are being redefined. In Sweden, a groundbreaking law allows parents to transfer part of their parental leave to grandparents or other caregivers. This innovation acknowledges the diverse roles family members play and provides vital support for caregiving across generations.

By developing ways to support new systems for older people, we enable them to actively contribute to society. In turn, their increased contributions help reshape perceptions of aging and subsequent innovation in a positive and meaningful way. 

Putting the puzzle pieces together 

Here’s an interesting thing about longevity: it’s easy to overlook, but once we start thinking about it, it’s easy to spot everywhere. Suddenly, we notice age-friendly public spaces and infrastructure, value multigenerational relationships, think about nurturing your health for a longer life, imagine new opportunities to learn and work, and recognise our own finitude. When this awareness sets in, we realize how everything around has been designed for a model – study, work, retire, and die by age 60 – that no longer fits our reality. 

I had this realization a few years ago, and it’s something I hear from almost everyone I talk to. Since then, I’ve been working to bring this shared experience into my work. 

There are 3 ways me and my colleagues at Ashoka are trying to help more people and organizations recognize this new reality as the norm:

1. Accelerating social innovations and collective wisdom in the field of longevity 

For over 40 years, we’ve seen the power of bringing together a community of social innovators within a particular field, such as health and wellbeing. These innovators support one another, drive systemic change, restore the agency of millions of changemakers, all while shifting mindsets. It is essential to identify more social innovations in the field of longevity and to amplify their collective wisdom on a global scale. With global partners, such as the Fit for Life Foundation, we have started identifying and supporting more social entrepreneurs with impactful solutions for healthy living and longevity, particularly in the Global South.

To facilitate faster and more efficient learnings and collaborations, we developed The New Longevity Brain in partnership with Apurva AI. This digital public infrastructure is helping us gather and analyze collective knowledge from institutions and older adults, transforming it into actionable wisdom for societal impact. It achieves this by: 

• Guiding organizations and policymakers in designing age-inclusive solutions that emphasize lifelong engagement and contribution, 
• Promoting social innovations and collaborations using data and proven models, 
• Restoring the agency of older adults to co-create solutions tailored to their needs, supported by feedback tools like WhatsApp listening.

2. Weaving key stakeholders to advance the new paradigm 

We are creating New Longevity Labs in different countries to orchestrate key stakeholders committed to advancing the new paradigm. The first New Longevity Lab was launched in Brazil in 2024, in collaboration with Instituto Beja, Itaú Viver Mais, Ashoka Fellows and other key stakeholders from academia, media, business, and the public sector. 

Our first step was to map and analyze the social innovation ecosystem in the country. From this study, we identified key areas for collective action and stakeholders to engage with. We are now working on strategies to strengthen innovators and changemakers, build new knowledge and narratives, and influence the design and implementation of local programs and policies. This integrated model is helping us leverage our organizational strengths and build a collective approach to addressing the opportunities in the field. We are following similar steps in Chile, Spain, India and Indonesia.

3. Advancing interventions with the potential to establish a new framework for longevity

Finally, we recognize the need for interventions with the potential to transform the field at scale. Here are two examples: first, if we aim to ensure that those who wish to continue working can do so for as long as they wish, we need to create millions of new jobs globally. One way to encourage this is by adjusting tax systems – reducing taxes on activities we want to promote, like expanding job opportunities, and shifting them toward areas we want to discourage, such as the overuse of natural resources.

The second example is caregiving. Currently, there is no global standard for regulating this sector; each country sets its policies based on local needs and resources. However, as we regulate this sector, we must reimagine the roles of caregivers. Caregivers are not just providing care; they’re empowering children, older adults, and people with disabilities to live life to the fullest. Governments can design policies that reflect this vital role and create a framework that supports their broader contributions to society. Several social entrepreneurs are already collaborating with governments on these efforts.

Come imagine a new future with us

Working on New Longevity reminds me that everyone – from a child, a young person, or an older adult – has the power to be a changemaker, a giver. 

By imagining a new longevity, we unlock opportunities to redesign systems, challenge outdated assumptions, and embrace a future that values every stage of life. Whether through raising awareness, accelerating social innovations, or promoting collaborations, we are collectively shaping a world where aging is not a limitation but a source of growth, connection, and purpose.

The shift to the New Longevity paradigm is not just a response to demographic changes – it’s a chance to create a society that thrives on inclusion, collaboration, and lifelong contribution. Together, we can build this future.

Join the movement.