The United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030) is a global collaboration, aligned with the last ten years of the Sustainable Development Goals, to improve the lives of older people, their families, and the communities in which they live. The World Health Organization leads the implementation of the Decade in collaboration with the other UN organizations and serves as the Decade Secretariat. Governments, international and regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, academia and the media are encouraged to actively contribute to achieving the Decade’s goals through direct action, partnering with others, and by participating in the Healthy Ageing Collaborative. Need for the concerted action Longer lives are one of our most remarkable collective achievements. They reflect advances in social and economic development as well as in health, specifically our success in dealing with fatal childhood illness, maternal mortality and, more recently, mortality at older ages. A longer life is an incredibly valuable resource. It provides the opportunity for rethinking not just what older age is but also how our whole lives might unfold. By the end of the Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030), the number of people aged 60 years and older will be 34% higher, increasing from 1 billion in 2019 to 1.4 billion. By 2050, the global population of older people will have more than doubled, to 2.1 billion. Globally, there is little evidence that older people today are in better health than previous generations. Good health adds life to years. The opportunities that arise from increasing longevity depend strongly on healthy ageing. What is healthy ageing Healthy ageing is developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables well-being in older age. Functional ability is determined by the intrinsic capacity of an individual (i.e. the combination of all the individual’s physical and mental capacities), the environment in which he or she lives (understood in the broadest sense and including physical, social and policy environments) and the interactions among them. Areas for action To foster healthy ageing and improve the lives of older people and their families and communities, fundamental shifts will be required not only in the actions we take but in how we think about age and ageing. The Decade will address four areas for action: change how we think, feel and act towards age and ageing; ensure that communities foster the abilities of older people; deliver person-centred integrated care and primary health services responsive to older people; and provide access to long-term care for older people who need it. Source : World Health Organisation (WHO)