This paper extends the Active Aging Index (AAI) to China to measure active aging among men and women over the age of 55. The strength of the AAI approach lies in its selection of a dashboard of multidimensional indicators of active aging, which are then aggregated into composite measures. The analysis used here considers the differences between men and women on 22 AAI indicators and their aggregations. China scores high on the first domain of the AAI (employment), is comparable with the EU countries on the second (participation in society), and scores lower on the third and fourth domains (independent and health living, and capacity and enabling environment). China has one of the largest gender gaps in active aging, especially in employment, but also in the domain of “Independent Living.” the comparison with EU countries points to a number of policy priorities and learnings, including the removal of disincentives to women working longer, namely differential mandatory and occupational retirement ages, and the introduction of measures to make workplaces more age and gender friendly.

The evidence-based policymaking relies on the use and robustness of the available data. Many conceptual and operational difficulties restrict this process, not least in making use of evidence to identify policy priorities. The Active Ageing Index (AAI), developed originally for the 28 European Union countries, offers a strong motivation in this respect. This paper reports on the development of the AAI for Korea, a country where speed and level of population aging is among the highest in the world. Drawing on the comparative analysis of the AAI results for Korea, China, and European countries, we find that Korea's AAI (35.3) is higher than the average of the AAI for all EU countries (33.9) but lower than China (37.3). Fitting Korea into the overall ranking with the EU countries and China (ranked 7), Korea is ranked 11, just behind Germany (10). The AAI results in Korea show that the employment domain performs extremely well compared with the EU countries, but other domains, especially “Social participation” and “Independent, healthy and secure living,” are achieving less favorable outcomes. High employment among the current cohorts of older workers in Korea can be attributed largely to the constraints of low pension income status.

The high speed of population ageing in ASEAN countries and in China, Japan and Korea necessitate a high-quality, comparative evidence base for policy learning. The new Asian Active Ageing Index (AAI) proposed in this paper quantifies the extent to which older people make contributions to their families and societies. The Asian AAI was calibrated to cultural norms in Asia by revisiting the choice of indicators. We also revised the aggregation methods previously used in the AAI for European Union member states. Amongst ASEAN member countries, Thailand does better than Indonesia and they both fare better than many European countries. Japan is among the top performing countries alongside Scandinavian countries. In the two ASEAN countries, Thailand and Indonesia, older persons are physically and mentally capable while their pension incomes are low, which explains the level of informal support they offer and their high employment rates, respectively. Future active ageing strategies need to prioritize active ageing among older women, particularly those who live alone.

This paper adopts a longitudinal approach toward examining what lies behind income mobility of older people aged 50 and over in England and aged 45 and over in South Korea over the period between 2006 and 2012, using panel data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA). The breakdown of income mobility which takes into account different type of division of the elderly population and income sources are also performed. The findings reveal that income growth has very little impact on aggregate income mobility in England, while it is crucial for the income mobility levels in Korea. There is a great deal of income mobility among single people under the age of 65 in England, while older people who are aged 65 or above and live alone experienced a greater variation in their income over time in Korea. In the case of breakdown of income mobility by income sources, it appears that labor income is the most important determinant of mobility in both countries and income from self-employment for Korea and income from social transfers in England also plays an important contribution to income mobility.

Being uniquely positioned in terms of population growth and rapid ageing,the Asia-Pacific region is of high importance in ensuring that the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) monitoring and implementation framework is accessible and attractive to member States, the majority of which are developing and have varied resources and research infrastructures. This paper reviews the current data collection processes of 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and discusses the various frameworks being used to monitor active ageing in the global context. We consequently suggest how a more functional and sustainable set of metrics can be developed to maximise countries’ participation in the MIPAA implementation and to build ageingknowledge globally, in particular around developing countries. We conclude that a dashboard of indicators that both constructs the Active Ageing Index (AAI) and is aligned with the key priorities of the MIPAA should become part of the toolkit to monitor MIPAA implementation in the future, but so too this framework should incorporate Asia-Pacific indicators that reflect the region’s unique demographic context and priorities, such as the community support.