Our Mission

The Global Aging Institute (GAI) is a nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to improving our understanding of global aging, to informing policymakers and the public about the challenges it poses, and to encouraging timely and constructive policy responses. Our research agenda is broad, encompassing everything from retirement security to national security. And our perspective is global, encompassing aging societies worldwide.

Like global aging itself, the questions that GAI addresses intersect with virtually every dimension of public and private life, from the shape of the family to the shape of the geopolitical order:

• How can aging societies ensure the adequacy and sustainability of their retirement and health-care systems?
• How can they encourage longer and healthier work lives and leverage the productive potential of the elderly, who will be the fastest growing segment of society?
• How will the changing structure of the family, which will often have more grandparents than grandchildren, affect the way we raise the young and care for the old?
• How will rising average ages and slowing population growth affect savings, investment, productivity, and long-term returns to capital?
• How is the differential impact of global aging, by country and by region, likely to transform the geopolitical landscape and the global balance of power?
• Most importantly, as countries age what types of policy responses are needed to promote economic growth, maintain social mobility, and ensure national and global security?

The Global Aging Institute pursues its mission through a wide range of activities. It carries out original research and analysis on policy issues related to global aging. It publishes and distributes reports, articles, and op-eds that communicate its findings and recommendations to the broadest possible audience. It gives presentations at conferences, policy forums, and roundtables in the United States and around the world. And it briefs media representatives and civic, business, and government leaders on the scope and magnitude of the global aging challenge and the most effective public and private responses.

We believe that the Global Aging Institute has a vital role to play in helping society prepare for humanity’s graying future. While there are other policy institutes and academic centers that address various aspects of the global aging challenge, few have GAI’s broad interdisciplinary scope and global strategic perspective. Moreover, to the extent that the work of these other institutes and centers is substantive, it tends to be narrowly academic; to the extent that it tries to communicate more broadly with policymakers and the public, it tends to be superficial. Quite simply, no other organization is as well positioned as GAI is to translate incisive research on global aging into authoritative yet accessible policy analysis and recommendations.

The Global Aging Institute receives its funding in the form of grants, which are earmarked for specific research projects, and sustaining contributions, which help GAI to pursue its broad research and educational mission. GAI is a public charity as defined in section 501(c)3 of the U.S. tax code. As such, grants and donations made to GAI are tax deductible in the United States.