Definition
From an individual’s standpoint, active aging is about growing older as a full member of society, independent in their daily life and engaged as a citizen. For society as a whole, with life expectancy on the increase, it is essential to realize the full potential of older people by setting in place the conditions to empower people to live active and healthy lives throughout their lives.
The Active Aging Index (AAI) quantifies the extent to which older people can realize their potential in three distinct domains that determine their experiences of active and healthy aging: “employment,” “social participation,” and “independent living.” An additional fourth domain, “enabling environment and capacity for active aging,” goes beyond observing the actual experiences of active aging and captures how societies differ with respect to the active aging capacity of their older populations and in providing the enabling age-friendly environments for active aging (Zaidi et al. 2017).
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References
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Zaidi, A. (2020). Active Aging and Active Aging Index. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_208-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_208-1
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