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Among the 20 countries with the highest life expectancy in the world, 17 belong to the Region of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which brings together 54 countries in and around Europe, as well as Canada and the USA. 1 But the population in Europe and (somewhat less so) in North America is not only the most long-living, but also the oldest worldwide in terms of the highest median age. However, this region is characterised by large and growing differences in terms of how people age, both between and within countries.

This calls for strong public health policies to make healthy ageing more equitable, which in turn requires a robust statistical evidence base to inform policy-making. In order to fill this gap, the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research brought together a group of authors who have produced these “Facts and figures on healthy ageing and long-term care”, which offers a broad statistical picture to inform the development of ageing policies in an international comparative perspective.