The global population is ageing rapidly. Gains in life expectancy coupled with declines in fertility have resulted in a situation where older individuals may soon outnumber the young. Currently, there are approximately one billion adults aged 60 years or older, however this number will increase to two billion by 2050. With such a shift in the global demographic, urgent action is needed to stamp out age discrimination and reframe ageing from being a burden to a blessing.

Assistant Professor Reuben Ng from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Lead Scientist at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk uses big data analytics to examine negative age stereotypes over the news and social media. As a behavioural and data scientist, his mission is to combat ageism and reframe ageing so that society perceive old age positively, as a productive period of discovery, rather than one of decline and dependence.

In one study, Asst Prof Ng compared the narratives of ageing over 210 years and found that they have shifted from uplifting narratives of heroism and kinship in the 1800s to darker tones of illness, death, and burden in the 1900s. This study won the Mather Institute Innovative Research on Aging Awards.

Another study found that well-intentioned policies for older adults increased society’s negative perceptions of them. Asst Prof Ng provided a framework for policymakers to better communicate age-related policies and spur intergenerational cohesion.

Against this background, it is paramount to champion the needs of older adults and celebrate ageing. Asst Prof Ng recently analysed how age advocacy organisations could better leverage social media to raise awareness of the needs of older adults — creating an influential playbook for these organisations to optimise campaign efforts.

Asst Prof Ng was also awarded the prestigious Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHR) Fellowship, to conduct research addressing the skills gap in Singapore.