Health & Demography Conference 2025

Joachim Wenning, Chairman of the Board of Management, Munich Re

Increased longevity is a cause for celebration, but it also presents significant challenges for societies and businesses, including insurers. Declining birth rates and rising life expectancies put healthcare and pension systems under mounting pressure, as longer lives are not always healthier or wealthier. 

To ensure longevity remains sustainable, three key areas must be prioritised: disease prevention, delaying retirement, and maintaining financial independence. Insurers have a crucial role to play, but they cannot address these challenges alone – public policy will be essential. 

Natalie Kelly, Swiss Re; John Deanfield, University College London

There is an urgent need to shift focus from treating to preventing disease. While medical advancements, such as vaccines and targeted treatments, and societal changes like smoking cessation have extended life expectancy, progress has stalled due to rising obesity, diabetes, and other chronic conditions. Society has, in many ways, traded one health crisis for another.

Lifestyle choices and personalised medicine, including tailored prevention strategies, will play a key role in reducing age-related diseases. However, health prevention is more discussed than acted upon, often sidelined by short-term political priorities. Until recently, health and wealth span have not been sufficiently linked, despite the clear benefits of maintaining health to sustain economic productivity. Policymakers, insurers, healthcare providers, and individuals can all contribute to creating a system that prioritises prevention. A new social contract – whereby public and private collaboration plays a central role – may be needed to align incentives and make this happen.

Adrita Bhattacharya-Craven, Geneva Association; Johan Auwerx, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne; Marcus Ebeling, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research; Frank Schiller, Munich Re

This panel explored the factors influencing human longevity, focusing on regional and population-specific differences shaped by scientific progress, healthcare access, and socioeconomic conditions. A central theme was the widening disparity in life expectancies, with medical advancements extending life spans and socioeconomic inequalities exacerbating the gap between different regions.

While emerging personalised medicine offers promising opportunities for managing health risks, environmental factors remain critical factors in determining both the length and quality of life. Early interventions are essential to maximising the benefits of longer lives; anti-ageing technologies are so far less promising and generally lacking sufficient scientific evidence.

Axel Heitmueller, Imperial College Health Partners; Helmut Hildebrandt, OptiMedis; Ana Llena Nozal, OECD; Alban Senn, Munich Re; Nancy Swanger, Washington State University

This panel explored the need to shift from traditional sickness care to proactive health creation and the practicalities and obstacles involved in achieving this. Innovations are in evidence, such as Germany’s integrated care model, which has achieved 6% cost savings alongside improved outcomes. Scaling, however, remains a challenge. Senior living programmes that focus on prevention and social connectedness also offer more efficient and less medicalised interventions.

The role of private health and life insurers is evolving to integrate service delivery. Sustained customer engagement is particularly important to making long-term health investments viable. Data will also be crucial, but ultimately, driving this shift will require the public sector to provide strong foundations for the private sector to build upon. 

Max Happacher, ERGO International

Existing retirement systems – both pay-as-you-go and funded models – face significant sustainability challenges as the workforce ages. But advancements in AI, robotics, and biotechnology could help offset labour shortages. Initiatives that encourage older professionals to remain active in the workforce using flexible employment models also show great potential. The key question is whether these solutions will emerge in time to support the next generation of retirees. 

Innovation and collaboration between governments, financial institutions, and industries will be needed to ensure wealth accumulation keeps pace with longevity. By rethinking how financial security is managed, societies can transform longer lives into an opportunity rather than an economic burden.

Kai-Uwe Schanz, Geneva Association; Nicholas Barr, London School of Economics; Michaela Grimm, Allianz; Max Happacher, ERGO International

This panel examined the global retirement savings gap, estimated to exceed USD 100 trillion, and the impact of shifting macroeconomic conditions, including the normalisation of interest rates and rising public debt. Discussions underscored the need to move beyond asset accumulation during working life to focus on the decumulation phase, ensuring effective management of longevity risk. Public policy can incentivise employers to retain older workers, and flexible insurance solutions that encourage voluntary work beyond retirement can promote both financial security and social engagement.

Rogério Campos Henriques, CEO, Fidelidade 

A more holistic approach to longevity is needed. Living longer must also mean living well – financially, physically, and socially. Examples from around the world, including Ping An’s integrated financial and health model, show how insurers can transition from providing traditional risk coverage to comprehensive life solutions. Key areas for innovation include reverse mortgages, hybrid life and health products, closed-network insurance plans, and flexible long-term care solutions that evolve with ageing populations. 

Fundamentally, insurers need to rethink conventional notions of age and ageing, which no longer align with outdated stereotypes of old and young. A reassessment of customer engagement, product design, and collaborations will help redefine the future of longevity.

Dennis Noordhoek, Geneva Association; Alfred Beil, AXA; Tim Fassam, Phoenix Group; Tim Shakesby, EIOPA

This panel explored how innovation, technology, and public policy can support healthy and financially secure ageing. Medical advancements, such as biotechnology, personalised medicine, and digital health, can improve healthcare accessibility, affordability, and outcomes. Their predictive capabilities, in particular, could prevent serious health conditions before they escalate, reducing costs and enabling better financial planning.

The panel also examined the insurance industry’s evolving role in this space, specifically the shift towards more personalised risk management. However, the tension between data-driven personalisation and the risk of financial exclusion raises regulatory concerns. Excessive personalisation could undermine risk-pooling mechanisms that are essential to insurance. But rather than viewing innovation and regulation as opposing forces, a renewed dialogue on ethical and regulatory approaches is needed to balance protection with fairness and build public confidence in these innovations.