At UniCredit’s 2025 Longevity Economic Forum in Milan, the central question wasn’t whether people will live longer—they already are. It was how we build lives, markets, and meaning around that fact. The number of conferences on longevity is fast multiplying, but this was one of the first hosted by a leading financial institution and focusing on the economic implications of our new demographic era.

The 100-Year Life Is Here—Now What?

In a world where people increasingly live into their 90s and beyond, traditional assumptions about retirement, careers, and consumer behaviour are no longer viable. Yet few institutions—whether governmental, financial, or social—have adapted. And we lack the metrics to evaluate where countries are on the journey to longevity readiness. For the moment, says NICA’s Nic Palmarini, they are all over the map.

The three organisations hosting the conference (Unicredit, Fidelity and the UK National Innovation Center on Ageing, or NICA) announced the launch of two new tools to start measuring progress.

One looks at systems, the other at lives. Together, they reveal the conditions needed to foster healthy, empowered ageing. I’ll cover the results of each in subsequent articles.

• The Longevity Index – a measure of how countries are navigating new lifespans and healthspans.
• Lifestyle & Leisure Trends – identifies longevity trends to provide a framework for decision-making that’s both grounded in data and forward-looking

The Macroeconomic Context

The OECD’s Stefano Scarpetto gave the wake up call on the demographic context. Populations are living longer while fertility rates are plummeting. Economies will begin to shrink drastically as populations age out of work.

There are three unavoidable levers to address the shortfall, he said:

1. Work: We’re going to work longer (see Denmark just upped retirement age to 70)
2. Women: Reduce the gender gap in labour force participation at all ages – and support women working and having babies with proactive shared parental leave.
3. Welcome migration: increase (legal) immigration (and let them work).

Two Nobel Laureates helped frame the conversation. Economist Robert Merton, known for his work on retirement finance, argued that the goal isn’t accumulated wealth, but an inflation-protected income that preserves one’s standard of living. He proposed a six-part framework for funding retirement that includes innovative tools like Retirement Security Bonds. Now being rolled out in Brazil.

Fellow laureate Michael Spence, at 81 competing with his 80-year-old colleague on both age and wisdom, emphasised that inclusive growth and productivity will hinge on how societies tap into the capacities of older adults. If we fail to reinvent retirement, and address the dramatic inequality and diversity among ageing populations, we risk expanding lifespan without improving life quality – or productivity.

Three panels looked at how these ideas are being put into action – and where. The first focused on new forms of investment and flexing rhythms of accumulation and decumulation. The second on how lifestyles are evolving and the companies serving these new and emerging needs, and the last debated how to insure and protect people across multiplying life stages.

Investing, Innovating, and Living Differently

The first panel explored how financial institutions and investors can recalibrate for century-long lifespans. Experts from Fidelity, PGGM, and Unicredit discussed the need for longer investment horizons, more adaptive pension systems, and better design around intergenerational wealth transfers.

A standout theme was the reframing of longevity as a market opportunity. Healthtech, housing, and digital wellness emerged as growth sectors. Technogym’s Erica Alessandri underscored the value of fitness as a preventive corporate competitiveness asset, dramatically improving the health of employees. Real estate company Hines’ Mario Abbadessa said that senior living was no longer a niche market, but has become his company’s core business. Fiona Melrose of UniCredit argued that longevity-conscious banking—offering tools for wellness, planning, and resilience—should be a part of every ESG strategy.

Katie Hart, a neuromarketer, said we can now physiologically measure how older consumers think, feel, and choose differently through brain scans. It’s not, she suggests “about decline but about understanding difference.” Older brains exhibit slower decision speed, higher emotional processing, and a greater aversion to risk. They may be more attracted to “wisdom than innovation.” And by 2030, the 60+ will control 70% of financial assets. Designing for them is also fast becoming central to good business.

Preserve, Protect—and Re-Inspire

The final panel focused on resilience—across health, wealth, and care. Allianz’s Arne Holzhausen outlined next-generation insurance products that combine financial protection with health data and digital tools. Humanitas presented their vision of healthcare moving from crisis to prevention, with clinics acting as local anchors for proactive, digitally supported care.

But it was Annie Coleman’s intervention that brought the human side of the longevity revolution into focus. Her call to move from retirement to ‘re-inspirement’—a reinvention of purpose, vitality, and contribution in later life—resonated with many. Her framework—productivity, vitality, transformation—offers a roadmap based on the Stanford Longevity Centre’s new roadmap of life, designed to live our bonus decades with agency and joy.

The Takeaway

Longevity is no longer a niche topic. It’s the defining growth opportunity of our age. But it requires a full-system rethink—from investment portfolios to health systems, from workplace design to social contracts.

The UniCredit Longevity Economic Forum made one thing clear: the future isn’t about debating dry demographic trends—it’s about unlocking the full potential and productivity of our second halves. Everywhere.