European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations

• in employment (to stay in the workforce and share their experience);
• in the community (to keep playing an active role in society);
• at home (to live as healthy and fulfilling lives as possible).

It is also vital to maintaining harmony between generations in societies with rapidly increasing numbers of older people.

The challenge for politicians and stakeholders will be to improve opportunities for active ageing in general and for living independently, acting in areas as diverse as employment, health care, social services, adult learning, volunteering, housing, IT services or transport.

The European Year seeks to raise awareness of the issues and the best ways of dealing with them. But most of all it seeks to encourage all policymakers and stakeholders to set themselves goals and take action to meet them. 2012 should go beyond debating; it should start bringing tangible results.

Read the rest of this section to get an overview of background to this European Year for Active Ageing 2012, what it means for Northern Ireland and how you can get involved.