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Active Ageing: Conceptual Developments, International Experiences and Recent Policy Strategies in Italy

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Handbook of Active Ageing and Quality of Life

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

Abstract

During the last decades, within the EU context, a new concept has been developed under the label of Active Ageing (AA), intended as a tool to support efforts aimed at adapting the social and economic structure to demographic trends. The vision of a society in which all human beings have agency beyond their position within the labour market is embedded in the idea that a good quality of life throughout the whole life course must be ensured. The AA framework is related to that vision, and therefore, in this chapter, we will first reconstruct the historical development of policies and theories concerning the ageing process, paying particular attention to the conceptualisation of AA. The second part focuses on selected European and international experiences regarding the construction and implementation of policy strategies inspired by mainstream programmatic documents (e.g. WHO, Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing). Finally, the last part highlights the Italian case and the recent efforts undertaken to develop a concerted national strategy in this field.

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Acknowledgements

This study was partially supported by Ricerca Corrente funding from the Italian Ministry of Health to IRCCS INRCA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Socio-Economic Research on Ageing, National Institute of Health and Science on Ageing—IRCCS INRCA, Ancona, Italy

    Claudia Di Matteo, Giovanni Lamura & Andrea Principi

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  1. Claudia Di Matteo
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  2. Giovanni Lamura
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  3. Andrea Principi
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Correspondence to Claudia Di Matteo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography (IEGD), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Research Group on Ageing (GIE-CSIC), Ageing Network of the Latin American Population Association (ALAP), Madrid, Spain

    Fermina Rojo-Pérez

  2. Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography (IEGD), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Research Group on Ageing (GIE-CSIC), Madrid, Spain

    Gloria Fernández-Mayoralas

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Di Matteo, C., Lamura, G., Principi, A. (2021). Active Ageing: Conceptual Developments, International Experiences and Recent Policy Strategies in Italy. In: Rojo-Pérez, F., Fernández-Mayoralas, G. (eds) Handbook of Active Ageing and Quality of Life. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58031-5_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58031-5_36

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