KUALA LUMPUR: The benefits of healthy ageing should not be limited to the privileged but should be made accessible to all, says Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.
The Sultan of Perak said viewing an ageing population solely through the narrow lens of expenditure was to overlook the immense social and human capital that healthier ageing preserves.
“A longer-lived population is a vast repository of accumulated wisdom, institutional memory, and mentorship.
“We must never treat age and dependency as synonymous. They are not.
“Global projections indicate that within the next 10 years, individuals over sixty will account for nearly one-third of global consumer expenditure. Longevity is already reshaping global markets.
“That said, economic consumption must never be the metric that validates human life,” His Royal Highness said at the Silver Economy Forum 2026: A Foundation for Shared Prosperity here yesterday.
Sultan Nazrin added that the silver economy must be understood not merely as a marketing frontier for older consumers, but as a structural realignment of the economy towards inclusivity, innovation, and social stability.
“True inclusion requires concrete, practical application. Healthy ageing cannot become a commodity available only to those who can afford it.
“If a longer, healthier life is one of the crowning achievements of modern civilisation, then the fruits of that achievement must not depend upon the balance of one’s bank account.
“A society is ultimately judged by whether the opportunities it creates remain within the reach of its most vulnerable citizens,” His Royal Highness said.
The Perak Ruler said healthy ageing required the right infrastructure, not simply the right services.
Sultan Nazrin added that housing, healthcare, financial security and technology could no longer be treated as separate areas of policy, as they were interconnected corridors in the same lived environment.
“The foundations of healthy ageing do not begin at sixty; they are laid in the choices made decades prior.
“The objective of public policy must not be restricted to creating institutional settings defined purely by medical care.
“Our goal must be to cultivate integrated communities where our elders can remain active and independent, while allowing support to increase gradually as their needs change,” said the Sultan of Perak.
Sultan Nazrin also said Asean must renew its commitment to building a society where healthy, active and productive ageing is a reality for all, as the region faces a rapidly ageing population.
His Royal Highness said the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Ageing, adopted by Asean leaders almost 11 years ago, provided a benchmark against which the region’s progress could be measured.
“Returning to this venue allows us to measure our progress against the benchmark established over a decade ago.
“Under the same roof, we reaffirm a deeply held ambition: the creation of a society where healthy, active, and productive ageing is not an isolated luxury, but a communal reality,” said the Perak Ruler.
At the forum, Sultan Nazrin received the Baroness Sally Greengross Award for Healthy Longevity Innovation from Global Coalition on Aging chief executive officer Michael Hodin.
