KUALA LUMPUR: Healthy ageing must not become a privilege reserved only for those who can afford it, Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah said.
The ruler said that while longer, healthier lives were among modern civilisation’s greatest achievements, the benefits should not depend on how much money a person has.
“A society is ultimately judged by whether the opportunities it creates remain within the reach of its most vulnerable citizens.
“Healthy ageing must be inclusive by design. The environments, services and technologies we develop should widen access rather than deepen existing inequalities.
“This is more than good social policy; it is a moral obligation and a sign of the respect that we owe to our elders.
“The ability to age with health, dignity and purpose should never be determined by wealth,” he said in his royal opening address, titled The Silver Economy: A Foundation for Shared Prosperity.
He delivered the address at the High-Level Forum on the Silver Economy 2026: Healthy Longevity for Economic Growth today.
At the event, Sultan Nazrin received the Baroness Sally Greengross Healthy Longevity Innovation Award from Global Coalition on Aging chief executive officer Michael Hodin.
Sultan Nazrin said the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Ageing: Empowering Older Persons in Asean, adopted by the bloc’s leaders 11 years ago, recognised this principle by calling for equitable access to healthcare, public services, preventive measures and support systems throughout the life course.
The ruler said the foundations of healthy ageing did not begin at 60, but were laid through choices made decades earlier.
“If we delay our interventions until frailty has already taken root, our options narrow drastically. So, we must design environments that do not merely accommodate declining human capability but actively work to preserve it.”
His Royal Highness said healthy ageing also required the right infrastructure, not simply the right services.
“We can no longer treat housing, healthcare, financial security and technology as separate areas of policy. They are interconnected corridors in the same lived environment.”
Sultan Nazrin said an Asean study estimated that demand for aged care in the region would more than double over the next two decades.
“Any serious discussion on longevity must address the economics, as pressures on public finances and on the family are real.
“To view an ageing population solely through the narrow lens of expenditure is to overlook the immense social and human capital that healthier ageing preserves.
“Malaysia’s own Care Strategic Framework cites analysis suggesting that every ringgit invested in care can generate seven ringgit in wider economic returns through gains in growth, employment and income.”
His Royal Highness said a longer-lived population was a vast repository of accumulated wisdom, institutional memory and mentorship.
“We must never treat age and dependency as synonymous. Global projections indicate that within the next 10 years, individuals over 60 will account for nearly one-third of global consumer expenditure. Longevity is already reshaping global markets.
“That said, economic consumption must never be the metric that validates human life. The silver economy must be understood not merely as a marketing frontier for older consumers, but as a structural realignment of our economy towards inclusivity, innovation and social stability,” he said, adding that true inclusion required concrete, practical application.
Sultan Nazrin added that the objective of public policy must not be restricted to creating institutional settings defined purely by medical care.
“Our goal must be to cultivate integrated communities where our elders can remain active and independent, while allowing support to increase gradually as their needs change.”