27
Jan

Population ageing is fundamentally reshaping economic and social systems worldwide. A life-course approach to financing active ageing underscores that investments and policy interventions at every stage of life—from early childhood through working age and into older age—are interconnected and essential to achieving both financial sustainability and wellbeing across the lifespan.

The National Transfer Accounts (NTA) and National Time Transfer Accounts (NTTA) frameworks provide robust empirical evidence to examine how resources are produced, consumed, and redistributed across generations. By quantifying intergenerational economic flows, NTA offers a unique lens to understand the generational economy—the interplay of public transfers, private transfers, asset reallocations, and labor income across different age groups. This perspective is particularly valuable in the context of population ageing and structural demographic changes, where questions of equity, efficiency, and sustainability become increasingly pressing.

While the technical construction of NTA is highly complex, its greatest value lies not in the production of the data itself but in its potential to inform policy. NTA evidence can guide critical policy domains such as social protection design, long-term care financing, pension reform, taxation, human capital investment, and strategies to promote intergenerational equity. However, due to its technical nature, policymakers and policy units often find it difficult to grasp the implications of NTA data and analyses for concrete policy action.

This meeting is therefore designed to bridge the gap between evidence and policy. By introducing NTA/NTTA concepts, showcasing international experiences, and facilitating interactive discussions, the meeting will foster dialogue between researchers and policymakers. The aim is to explore how NTA evidence can be more effectively integrated into policy planning, scenario analyses, and the consideration of options for financing active ageing through a life-course lens.