Mobility of older people and their quality of life

doi:10.1016/S0967-070X(00)00004-4

Transport Policy

Volume 7, Issue 2, April 2000, Pages 149-152

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-070X(00)00004-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

Population ageing will give rise to a substantial increase in the numbers of older people in society. Quality of life in old age is related to mobility, although the relationship is not clear, in part because the concept of mobility is not well defined. It is argued that it would be attractive to develop an operational concept of mobility, to allow the measurement of a group of benefits associated with individual movement which extend beyond those normally taken into account in travel and transport economics and modelling. This approach would be particularly worthwhile for investigating the loss of mobility with increasing age and the impact this has on quality of life, and for assessing the impact of measures aimed at enhancing the mobility of older people.

Section snippets

Introduction: the ageing population

The developed countries are undergoing a major process of demographic change involving the ageing of the population. In 1960, the population of people aged 65 and over in OECD countries represented 15% of the working age population; by 2030 this is projected to increase to 35% (OECD, 1998). The projected population of the United Kingdom shows the number of people aged 75 and over doubling by the middle of this century—from four million now to eight million by 2050—while the overall number of

Concepts of mobility

Although a term widely used, mobility is in practice employed in a number of different contexts with rather different meanings. Sometimes mobility is used more or less synonymously with travel—thus one might say that mobility in the UK has increased more than three-fold over the last 50 years, meaning that total passenger–kilometers travelled have increased by this factor. On the other hand, when speaking of an individual, a reduction in their mobility carries connotations of detriment that

Measuring the components of mobility

Arguably, these destination-independent benefits of travel ought to be included in the analysis of transport supply and demand generally. Certainly, for analysis of the needs of older people, the psychological, exercise and community benefits are likely to be of particular importance. For each of these aspects it may be supposed that there exists an optimum exposure, below which level there is insufficient benefit, and above which tiredness or boredom supervene. Of course, the optimum exposure

Conclusion

The argument of this paper is that it would be desirable to develop an operational concept of mobility, to allow the measurement of a group of benefits associated with individual movement which extend beyond those normally taken into account in travel and transport economics and modelling. This approach would be particularly worthwhile for investigating the loss of mobility with increasing age and for assessing the impact of measures aimed at enhancing the mobility of older people.

For instance,

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Mobility of older people and their quality of life

Abstract

Section snippets

Introduction: the ageing population

Concepts of mobility

Measuring the components of mobility

Conclusion

Transportation Research

Measuring Health: a Review of Quality of Life Measurement Scales

A different route to health: implications of transport policies

British Medical Journal

Population based study of social and productive activities as predictors of survival among elderly Americans

British Medical Journal

Getting Around After 60

Household activity travel simulator (HATS): a technique for investigating household decisions

Environment and Planning A