Dear Colleagues,

We are currently organizing a Special Issue entitled “Advances in Measuring Health and Wellbeing” in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. IJERPH is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes articles and communications in the interdisciplinary area of environmental health sciences and public health. For detailed information on the journal, we refer you to https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph.

Population ageing is a global phenomenon. Every country in the world is experiencing growth in the size and proportion of older persons in their population. The trend is increasing over time - according to World Population Prospects 2019 (United Nations (2019)), by 2050, one out of six people in the world will be 65 or over, up from one out of eleven in 2019. In an ageing society, the states not only need to worry about the shrinking labor market, but also, importantly, financial problems including pensions and the expenditures of maintaining health care systems, social supports, and other public services for older adult populations. Of particular interest is the long-term care needs of older individuals, particularly of those who have disabilities that prevent them from performing certain tasks that relate to daily life.

Several goals of United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are related to reducing the risks of being unhealthy and socially vulnerable in later life. Recently, we have experienced that, under the shock of a pandemic, these goals are scarcely fulfilled, even in developed countries. Thus, it is important to generate knowledge about the vulnerability of elderly people.

With this Special Issue we seek to attract contributions from diverse research lines, representing different geographies in order to develop instruments and methods that help to visualize data and produce reliable measurements of health and wellbeing that are comparable across countries. The use of data science, big data, and machine learning techniques in the area are welcome. These tools will help to better understand the health problems of older adults globally, and to facilitate appropriate health and social policy responses.

Keywords: aging, dependency, disabilities, health care, health insurance, long-term care, pensions, public health, wellbeing.

More information on the S.I. in https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/special_issues/measuring_health_wellbeing 

Prof. Aurea Grané

Prof. Irene Albarrán

Guest Editors

Deadline for paper submission: 30 June 2021