Members' Business — S6M-07967 Alexander Stewart: Healthy AGeing in Scotland

That the Parliament acknowledges that the University of Stirling-led Healthy AGeing In Scotland (HAGIS) study is the first of its kind to follow individuals and households across Scotland, including in the Mid Scotland and Fife region, through the passage of time; understands that the study, which was launched on 24 July 2015, is an ongoing, major Scotland-wide study of the health, economic and social circumstances of people over 50, which will enable future improvements to be made to the health and wellbeing of this age group; believes that there are currently two million people over 50 in Scotland, comprising 38% of the population; understands that the HAGIS study will capture a snapshot of the current circumstances of 1,000 people over 50; further understands that, following its findings in Autumn 2016, the aim was to expand the study to 8,000 people in 2018, charting changes in their health and social circumstances over the decades and reporting every two years; notes that the multi-partner HAGIS project team includes the Universities of Strathclyde and Edinburgh; believes that, while people in Scotland are now living longer and the size of the older population is increasing, the country historically possesses a relatively poor health record and significant levels of income inequality; considers that, as a result of its extensive research since inception, the HAGIS study is proving to be what it sees as an extremely valuable and important new member of the growing worldwide network of longitudinal ageing studies, uncovering the unique health and social circumstances currently experienced by Scotland’s ageing population; acknowledges the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030), which is a global collaboration, aligned with the last ten years of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to improve the lives of older people, their families, and the communities in which they live; understands that the three domains of healthy ageing are physical ageing, mental/cognitive ageing and social wellbeing ageing; considers that harmonised data from HAGIS will permit quantitative comparisons of the ageing processes in Scotland with findings from the other members of the Health and Retirement Study family, which now covers more than 50% of the world’s over-50 population, and commends the University of Stirling and its multi-partner university project team for embarking on what it considers as a significant and invaluable study into the improvement of health and wellbeing in the lives of Scotland’s growing ageing population.