Century-long Lives (CLL) profiling area concentrates on human longevity and its implications for societies from a multidisciplinary perspective. By fostering collaboration between researchers in different disciplines CLL aim is to move beyond current understanding and to provide a novel lens on the possibilities and challenges of a long life.
An increasing number of people can expect to live a long life: approximately 50 per cent of those born around the millennium will survive well beyond 100 years. The change across generations has been rapid. As a society we must swiftly respond to a phenomenon that has never existed in human history and change structures that originally were designed for a much shorter life. As individuals we need to adapt to the changing outlook of a lengthening life course, find cultural scripts for a long life and manage the opportunities and risks that arise from the prospect of a long life.
Thus far, longevity is understood as a societal challenge concerning care-dependency ratios or sustainability of pension systems, and as a development that only pertains to the end part of the life course. However, we need a more holistic view that investigates not only the sustainability of single societal institutions and structures, but also the ways in which the promise of a long live affect societies and individuals across the life course, particularly in a Nordic welfare state context.
