Aging is a process that encompasses virtually all aspects of life. Because the speed of population aging is accelerating, and because the data needed to study the aging process are complex and expensive to obtain, it is imperative that countries coordinate their research efforts to reap the most benefits from this important information. Preparing for an Aging World looks at the behavioral and socioeconomic aspects of aging, and focuses on work, retirement, and pensions; wealth and savings behavior; health and disability; intergenerational transfers; and concepts of well-being. It makes recommendations for a collection of new, cross-national data on aging populationsâ€"data that will allow nations to develop policies and programs for addressing the major shifts in population age structure now occurring. These efforts, if made internationally, would advance our understanding of the aging process around the world.

A system for old-age security should probably combine different approaches: mandated savings and annuities; a redistribution of income to old people who did not earn enough when they were young to build an adequate cushion of savings; fiscal incentives for nonmandatory savings and annuities (including tax incentives for job-based pension plans); and an informal system of purely voluntary personal savings and family arrangements.