Project description
How older adults thrive in lower-income nations
In poorer nations, people generally have shorter lifespans due to disparities in healthcare, living conditions, nutrition, and exposure to infectious diseases. However, there are also cases of older adults in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) living longer than their peers in wealthier nations. The ERC-funded LONGEVOUS project investigates this puzzle by examining why later-life survival appears stronger in certain LMICs. It will also explore how different environments shape ageing and health. The project aims to deepen global understanding of longevity. The goal is to reshape mortality theories by highlighting the resilience developed under challenging conditions. The findings will offer new insights into how people age across varied settings.
Objective
Individuals in poorer nations generally live shorter lives than their counterparts in wealthier nations. Paradoxically, as people age, an intriguing reversal of this pattern emerges, with older individuals in certain low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) outliving those in high-income countries (HICs). Why do older people in LMICs outlive those in HICs? Why does the later-life survival advantage only occur for some LMICs? Answering these pressing questions is critical for addressing the current and future impact of aging societies and for advancing theories of the mortality transition that do not yet consider the diversity of aging experiences worldwide.
LONGEVOUS has three ambitious goals and bold theoretical thrusts: (A) to assess the theoretical framework that explains the paradoxical later-life survival advantage in LMICs, (B) to assess the empirical mechanism behind low mortality at older ages in LMICs, and (C) to investigate whether this unexpected mortality paradox also emerges in terms of health outcomes. Project A tests the theory that adverse conditions over the life course create a group of robust individuals in later life. Project B develops a novel method for estimating mortality at older ages in certain LMICs, where the poor quality of age data remains unresolved and prevents us from testing mortality theories. Project C adds the health component to better understand country disparities in mortality at older ages. LONGEVOUS not only opens new perspectives for longevity research but also represents an unprecedented effort to conduct the most comprehensive study to date of the factors that shape mortality at older ages in LMICs.
LONGEVOUS will use a combination of several demographic and statistical methods, and multiple data sources, including censuses, record linkage studies, and longitudinal health data. The benefit of LONGEVOUS is clear: a ground-breaking paradigm shift in our understanding of later-life survival on a global scale.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
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