It’s not how old you are, it’s how you are old. State discourse on successful ageing in Singapore

Abstract

According to Asher and Nandy, the global population of seniors will increase to 1.41 million in 2030 and is predicted to further grow to 2 billion by 2050. This will cause a fundamental change in the world’s ageing structure, with the number of seniors equal to the child population (0–14 years). Today, seniors are being encouraged to be part of the workforce for as long as possible to cater for this shift. One of the means to achieve this is to stay healthy through regular engagement in physical activity. This paper takes Singapore as a case study. Its purpose is to examine the relationship between the discourses on successful ageing, physical activity and employment in Singapore and how these are embodied by local seniors in their everyday lives. It asks whether this demographic group should be predominantly doing menial work and should their salaries be significantly lower than their younger counterparts? Is it right to use a discourse that links work to physical activity, and therefore health, and to make this a part of ageing successfully?