Ready to live longer and better?

The so-called ‘Silver Generation’ is made up of people aged between 55 and 75; workers who continue to contribute their talent, social skills and experience to society; a population group who tend to have amassed considerable savings and enjoy high spending power. According to the first Senior Consumer Barometer, prepared by Fundación MAPFRE following a survey of 1,100 people aged over 55 in Spain to identify their consumer habits, the people in this generation tend to have high purchasing power, own their own homes, have the wherewithal to save, and are optimistic about their future situation. These are active, tech-savvy people who take care of their diets, who love travelling and enjoying their leisure time and, most positively of all, are ready and willing to live longer and better.

Figures around the world reveal a similar scenario: 40% of global consumption stems from the over-65s these days and, in Europe, people aged between 50 and 75 have 12% more purchasing power than other population cohorts. This fact should lead companies to adapt their products and services to new consumption habits and drive a transformation in different activities to meet the demands of this growing group. New entrepreneurs, many of them seniors, will rely on technology to take advantage of emerging opportunities and adapt to the advent of longevity. In this respect, Ageingmonics is a positive concept that is associated with opportunities.

The presentation of the Ageingnomics Research Center, held on 10 December, was attended by Antonio Huertas, President of Fundación MAPFRE; Teresa Ribera, Fourth Vice-president and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge; Juan Fernández Palacios, CEO of MAPFRE Vida; Iñaki Ortega, director of the Deusto Business School Madrid; and Manuel Sevillano, Corporate Reputation Director at Atrevia.

“We are a fortunate country because we have one of the world’s most long-living populations. Within just two decades, one-third of our population will be over 65, in most cases healthy enough to enjoy their leisure and consumer habits with all their faculties intact. The Fundación MAPFRE Ageingnomics Research Center was founded specifically to help manage this wealth, to stimulate the necessary debate to enable our society to adapt in a positive way to the realities ahead of us. Now is the time to build a new production model that takes advantage of all the opportunities of a longer life.”

These words from Antonio Huertas, President of Fundación MAPFRE, during the presentation event made it very clear that Fundación MAPFRE is firmly committed to the economic opportunities of ageing (Ageingnomics) and the positive slant we want this demographic challenge to embody, highlighting the ability of seniors to continue contributing to society regardless of their age.

The meeting also featured presentations by Juan Fernández Palacios, CEO of MAPFRE Vida, and Iñaki Ortega, Director of the Deusto Business School Madrid, who directed the first research undertaken by the Fundación MAPFRE Ageingnomics Research Center, the first Senior Consumer Barometer, whose main conclusions were also presented at the event.