How young people can ensure longer lives are also better lives

What happens when you ask a room full of young people whether they'd want to live to 100? Perhaps surprisingly, it's not guaranteed that everyone would raise their hand. While some may see a longer life as a gift, others may not be so sure – at least not without knowing what kind of life those extra years would bring.

That hesitation reflects a wider tension among younger generations. Roughly one in six Gen Z workers in the US plan to live to 100 or older, according to the Transamerica Institute's 25th Annual Retirement Survey. But financial uncertainty is already affecting how this age group plans their lives, causing 55% of Gen Z to delay major life decisions such as marriage, starting a family or a business.

So, young people may expect to live longer, but they often feel less certain about what those longer lives will look like. One of the reasons for this is that they are inheriting systems designed for a different demographic reality – retirement models based on shorter timespans, career paths built for linear lives and family-based care structures dependent on smaller older populations.

But longer lives are already reshaping how young people learn, work, care for others and plan their futures.

Understanding this uncertainty involves examining how young people experience longevity in different parts of the world. Their concerns are not uniform because the same demographic transition interacts with very different economic, social and health conditions.

This is why the Global Shapers Longevity Economy Taskforce polled more than 183 young leaders across 57 countries, using the 6 principles of the longevity economy as a guiding lense to understand how this transition actually feels in different places.

This survey shows that the demographic transition is viewed differently depending on place. While financial insecurity was the most consistently named concern across every region, its shape changed depending on where young leaders live.

Ask a young leader in Madrid, Spain, about longevity, and the conversation may turn to pensions because they are worried about a widening gap between what the government collects in taxes and what it pays out in pensions.

In Beirut, on the other hand, Lebanon's financial collapse wiped out a generation's life savings almost overnight, quietly erasing retirement as a life stage altogether. And in Abuja, a young leader’s answer may well be different again – in Northern Nigeria, longevity isn't yet a priority because communities are still focused on reducing high mortality rates.

The second most common theme was harder to quantify but just as consistent: loneliness. From Greater China to Latin America, the young leaders polled described longer lifespans becoming lonelier ones. This creates a shift in emotional care and companionship needs that pension reform alone cannot fix.

This research did not stop at identifying these concerns. More than 80 young leaders came together during the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Annual Summit earlier this year to consider what a better future could look like and which responses should be prioritized.

Despite their different regional perspectives, two main ideas were prioritized overall: preventive care must take the lead within health systems and no one should retire into poverty.

These same priorities echo global data: World Economic Forum data shows that nearly 40% of people worldwide face financial instability after an unplanned job loss. But only a third of the global population is financially literate, a gap that deepens existing life-expectancy inequalities.

On the health side, preventive and low-cost interventions such as fall-proofing homes, encouraging physical activity and expanding hearing aid access could save the world's healthcare systems more than $5.8 trillion by 2040, according to a World Economic Forum report called The Longevity Dividend: The Business Case for Linking Health and Wealth.

To solve the challenges of longevity, young leaders in Beijing, China, for example, have built a project pairing older adults in care homes with international students for language exchange. This initiative has seen 169 older adults meet with 106 students so far, in a bid to tackle both loneliness and stigma about ageing.

In Harare, Zimbabwe, another initiative gives economically marginalized adults over 55 start-up capital and a young business companion. This has resulted in the launch of 30 micro-enterprises with a 20% average income increase.

And in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a young leaders initiative matches women from vulnerable backgrounds with experienced mentors in STEM careers. The aim is to help these women build long-term financial resilience through career development, long before retirement age.

Across US hubs, groups of young leaders have also joined forces to help erase $2.2 million in medical debt. This will help people improve their financial stability and peace of mind as they contemplate living longer lives.

The challenges associated with longer lives are not inevitable. Young people can help to strengthen financial security, social connection and opportunity across the course of their own lives, to help themselves and others in their communities.

Turning longer lives into better lives will require young people to understand this new demographic shift and to participate in shaping a response to it. Some young leaders are already showing what that looks like in practice.

And by sharing what their tools and systems look like, more people can participate in the decision-making and conversations that are shaping longer lives.