There are studies that merely describe reality and others that help to understand it. The new CENSIS Report, “Aging in Italy of Longevity. How to Build a Country Tailored to the Elderly,” certainly belongs to the second category as it not only offers a snapshot of the aging Italian population but proposes an interpretative key to one of the deepest transformations destined to mark the 21st century: the establishment of longevity as a new life stage and as a social, economic, and cultural paradigm.
CENSIS has always accompanied the evolution of Italian society through the traditional Annual Report on the country’s situation, which will reach its sixtieth edition in 2026.
Alongside this fundamental research activity, the Institute has progressively developed a series of Thematic Reports dedicated to specific social phenomena that represent a valuable added value.
While the Annual Report provides an overall vision of Italy, these monographic studies deepen individual aspects, offering a closer reading of ongoing transformations.
Within the broader context of this consolidated research activity, the Institute has in fact progressively developed a second and equally important line of investigation, consisting of Thematic Reports dedicated to specific areas of social transformation. In recent years, topics such as parenting, communication and information, welfare, health, pleasure, work, school, and new technologies have been addressed. These are not sectoral studies separate from the general Report but monographic deepening that constitute a valuable added value: if the Annual Report offers an overall vision of the country, these studies allow a closer observation of individual phenomena, like “slices” of a complex reality, providing greater depth to sociological analysis and confirming CENSIS’s extraordinary ability to capture changes in Italian society as they occur, in that kind of social self-propulsion that is the narrative hallmark of the Institute in Piazza di Novella in Rome.
The Report dedicated to longevity fits perfectly into this research path, and therefore the choice of the theme appears particularly significant because Italy today represents one of the longest-lived countries in the world and, at the same time, one of the most exposed to the effects of demographic winter. We are not simply facing an increase in the average age of the population but a transformation destined to impact welfare, healthcare, city organization, economy, work, family relationships, and, more deeply, the very way of conceiving the course of life.
In this perspective lies the Report “Aging in Italy of Longevity. How to Build a Country Tailored to the Elderly,” which addresses one of the themes destined to have the greatest impact on the country’s future.
CENSIS does not simply describe the aging population but proposes a paradigm shift: longevity is no longer just a demographic issue but a new social condition that constitutes a fundamental aspect of a new cultural anthropology, as anticipated at the outset.
The numbers clearly describe the scale of the phenomenon and are eloquent.
By 2050, those over sixty-five will reach 18.9 million, equal to 34.6% of the population, while those over eighty will be over 7.4 million, and centenarians will exceed 60,000. Life expectancy is increasing, but not equally the years lived in good health: at 65, there remain on average just over ten years without functional limitations. The Report thus poses a perspective to be evaluated from various considerations: if by 2050 those over 65 will be 18.9 million (i.e., one in three Italians), those over eighty will reach 7.46 million, and there will be over 60,000 centenarians, it must be kept in mind that 29.5% of those over 65 already live alone today.
Among those over eighty-five, the share rises to 49.9%: one elderly person in two lives alone. This, in my humble opinion, is the most striking data of the entire Report as this percentage does not merely represent a demographic snapshot but measures an anthropological transformation.
For centuries, old age was experienced within the extended family, but today the greatest risk is not only illness: it is loneliness, in all its obvious or hidden facets.
And it is here, in my opinion, that the Report assumes a cultural value that goes far beyond statistics.
With a decisive emphasis: it is not enough to live longer; it is necessary to live better the years gained.
As emphasized by Mons. Vincenzo Paglia, the temptation to institutionalize the elderly must be avoided. I recall a very clear passage from an interview we conducted when he was President of the ‘Commission for the Reform of Healthcare and Social Healthcare Assistance for the Elderly Population’ established at the Ministry of Health: “I will tell you that in my opinion it is our families, all of them, and society as a whole that must guarantee a serene old age. Today, in my opinion, a broad and convergent collective effort is necessary because the extension of life – the ease with which we reach and often exceed eighty and ninety years – must lead us to fill this time of human life with content. It cannot be a space emptied of activity, almost an antechamber to the final phase, death. There must be sociality, times of life and relationships, times of activity, and spirituality, to converge towards a vision that gives serenity and well-being to elderly people. For this reason, as I said, a fundamental element is the “new alliance” between generations. But that is not enough. It is the whole society that must commit to valuing the elderly because the elderly are all of us, as we are all heading towards the prospect of advancing age. So we must eliminate the prejudice that being elderly equates to suffering and loneliness and start thinking that we are facing an extraordinary opportunity to expand not only the duration of life but also – above all – the quality of life. And the elderly, all of them, bring to society an “extra” of wisdom and “life,” indeed.” (Interview Mons. Paglia: “It is time to weave a new alliance between generations” December 1, 2021 – Il Domani d’Italia)
Alongside demographic projections, the research presents an interesting sample survey that captures Italians’ perceptions and expectations. Old age is no longer identified with the traditional milestone of 65 years: respondents place the entry into true old age around 77 years, a sign of a profound cultural transformation. At the same time, the fear of non-self-sufficiency emerges strongly, indicated as the main concern for the future, far more than longevity itself.
The Research also devotes ample space to the relationship with the National Health Service, highlighting how Italians continue to consider it an essential pillar of social equity, while demanding a decisive strengthening of territorial medicine, home care, and proximity services. Longevity indeed requires a care model that is less hospital-centered and increasingly integrated with the territory.
Of particular importance is the attention given to family caregivers, the silent pillar of assistance to frail elderly people. CENSIS particularly highlights the growing burden on families and the need to recognize and support this role through more effective public policies.
At the same time, interest in digital technologies, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence is growing, considered tools capable of promoting autonomy, safety, and staying at home, provided they do not replace human relationships. Old age risks becoming a sort of ‘atoll’ of existential precariousness and isolation since access to technological tools, which are increasingly cryptic and complex to handle, is often practically denied, with an evident overexposure to the danger of humiliating and shameful cyber scams.
However, the most significant chapter concerns loneliness, destined to become one of the great social issues of the coming decades. As anticipated in the statistical data citation, almost one in two over eighty-five lives alone today, and this mainly concerns women, who tend to live longer: a datum that does not merely describe a housing condition but the progressive weakening of family and community networks. Loneliness thus emerges as a new form of fragility, capable of impacting health, psychological well-being, and quality of life as much as and sometimes more than illness. This is probably the strongest message of the Report: building a society of longevity means above all rebuilding relationships, combating isolation, and promoting a culture of proximity.
The guests at the event presentation were particularly brilliant and communicative: Elsa Fornero – Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Turin (connecting from Venice where she was attending a Conference on “Longevity”), Emanuela Notari – Longevity Strategist at Intoo GiGroup, Mons. Vincenzo Paglia – Emeritus President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Alessandro Rosina – Full Professor of Demography at the Catholic University of Milan, brought a highly knowledgeable and experiential contribution.
Their interventions, which accompanied the presentation of the Report, further enriched the reflection. Elsa Fornero recalled the need to rethink pensions and work in light of new demographic balances, Alessandro Rosina placed longevity within the framework of the Italian demographic winter, Emanuela Notari illustrated the opportunities of the longevity economy, while Mons. Vincenzo Paglia brought the debate to the anthropological level, recalling how the dignity of the elderly person and the fight against the “culture of waste” constitute the measure of a community’s civilization.
CENSIS’s greatest merit lies precisely in having shifted attention from old age to longevity. Not a season of inevitable decline but a new time of life, rich in potential, requiring innovative policies and a different cultural sensitivity. The real challenge is not only to add years to life but to add life to years. This, ultimately, is the perspective that the Report delivers to the public debate and that calls upon institutions, communities, and citizens.
The presentation of the Report by the researcher in the consumption, markets, and welfare area of CENSIS, Dr. Chiara Ryan, enriched by the aforementioned interventions, has extensively considered the horizon of reflection. Each, from their own point of view, showed how longevity constitutes one of the great challenges of our time: economic and pension-related, demographic, organizational, but also anthropological and moral. It is precisely from this intertwining of perspectives that the need emerges to consider longevity not as an emergency to manage but as a civilization achievement to be accompanied with foresight, innovation, and responsibility.
In the collective imagination and in expert analyses within the vast range of anthropological disciplines, proper emphasis is placed on the difficulties that childhood and adolescence face in the growth phase towards life. Equally urgent, important, and decisive – given the demographic trend – is the due regard that the so-called ‘third age’ awaits and deserves.
