The Longevity Dividend: The Business Case for Linking Health and Wealth

The report presents a business case for linking physical and financial health to address the challenges of ageing populations. It quantifies the economic benefits of three low-tech interventions—fall-proofing homes, increasing physical activity to prevent type 2 diabetes, and expanding hearing aid access to delay dementia—which together could save healthcare systems over $5.8 trillion and unlock $645 billion in productivity by 2040. It also examines systemic barriers to longevity, including the financial penalties of unpaid caregiving, workplace ageism, and housing unaffordability.

• Three low-tech interventions—fall-proofing homes, increasing physical activity, and expanding access to hearing aids—could save global healthcare systems upwards of $5.8 trillion and unlock $645 billion in productivity by 2040.
• Retrofitting homes with basic safety features like grab bars and improved lighting could prevent 400 million falls by 2040, saving healthcare systems $5.4 trillion with an initial investment of less than $400 billion.
• Increasing moderate physical activity by two hours per week could prevent over 8.5 million new cases of type 2 diabetes by 2040, resulting in $85 billion in healthcare savings and over $120 billion in productivity gains.
• Expanding the use of hearing aids to mitigate hearing loss could prevent 2.4 million cases of dementia by 2040, saving over $320 billion in healthcare costs and adding an average of four healthy years per prevented case.
• Unpaid caregiving creates significant financial penalties, particularly for women; a single year of caregiving combined with the gender pay gap can reduce a woman's retirement savings by 24%, while five years can reduce it by nearly half.
• Workplace ageism leads to significant economic losses; OECD countries are projected to lose nearly $500 billion in productivity by 2040 due to the under- and unemployment of adults aged 55+.
• Housing unaffordability is a global systemic issue affecting both young and old; in several countries including Nigeria, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Viet Nam, monthly housing payments exceed 100% of average monthly earnings.
• Demographic ageing is a universal trend, and 'younger' countries like Nigeria, Indonesia, and Viet Nam may face steeper longevity transitions as ageing populations arrive faster than supporting systems can be built.

APA

World Economic Forum (2026). The Longevity Dividend: The Business Case for Linking Health and Wealth. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Longevity_Dividend_2026.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. The Longevity Dividend: The Business Case for Linking Health and Wealth. 2026. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Longevity_Dividend_2026.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=The Longevity Dividend: The Business Case for Linking Health and Wealth |date=June 2026 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Longevity_Dividend_2026.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2026longevity, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{The Longevity Dividend: The Business Case for Linking Health and Wealth}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2026}, month = jun, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Longevity_Dividend_2026.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }