Thanks to medical advancement, the life expectancy worldwide is getting longer. Over the past 150 years, life expectancy in Germany has nearly doubled. Statistically speaking, a child born today can be expected to reach an average age of 78.6 (for men) or 83.4 (for women). This rapid increase in life expectancy is not unique to Europe and North America but is a global development, although it began in Asia and Africa only in the 20th century.
Even more important than the maximum age is the overall quality of life and answers to questions like: How do people spend these extra years of life – healthy or frail, lonely or as part of a community? Why are some people fit and resilient well into old age and others not? What influence do internal and external factors have on people's health and resilience? What are the factors that promote resilient ageing?
The Leibniz Research Alliance “Resilient Ageing” combines the expertise of scientists from fourteen Leibniz Institutes and one associate Leibniz Institute to set up a highly interdisciplinary and coherent research agenda to study ageing from a comprehensive perspective. They will use their joined forces to take a look at the individual biological ageing process in connection with lifestyle, nutrition, education and other socioeconomic and sociopolitical factors. The aim of the research is to develop strategies at all levels so that more people can grow old in good health and society is not overwhelmed by rising healthcare costs.