Super-aged, superlative: Ageing with meaning and dignity in S'pore

Singapore is on the brink of becoming one of the world’s fastest super-aged societies.

- Daniel Fung

By 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be above the age of 65.This milestone is often portrayed as a looming crisis, one that threatens to overwhelm our healthcare system, shrink our workforce, and burden families. But this narrative overlooks an important truth: Ageing need not mean decline.

If we understand how the brain adapts, and how society can nurture both body and spirit, ageing can be superlative, a stage of resilience, growth and dignity.

For decades, mental health was framed around simplistic notions of “chemical imbalance” and the use of medications to correct the imbalance.

While this theory served its time, science now offers a far richer picture. Our brains are dynamic networks, constantly shaped by genes, environment, and lived experience.

Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt, reminds us that older adults are not merely passengers of decline, but capable of learning, rewiring and flourishing well into later life.

Seniors can develop new skills, strengthen social bonds, and even recover from adversity. The challenge lies not in whether the brain can change, but in whether society offers the right conditions for it to do so.

Here, neurodiversity provides another important perspective. Human brains vary widely in how they function, and ageing magnifies this variation.

Some seniors may face challenges such as dementia, anxiety or depression. But others show remarkable strengths compared with younger counterparts, greater emotional regulation, perspective and wisdom.

Too often, ageing is described in terms of deficits. We speak of “cognitive decline” as though it were purely a loss. What if, instead, we framed these changes as “ageing differences”?

Just as society has embraced the neurodiversity movement, recognising autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other conditions as natural variations rather than disorders, so too can we reframe ageing.