In Finland, the number of people aged 75 years and older is projected to nearly double, from 627,000 in 2022 to approximately 1.3 million by 2075. Life expectancy has increased by 10–12 years in recent decades. (Statistics Finland 2023.) However, these additional years do not necessarily translate into better quality of life. Instead, they are often accompanied by extended periods of dependency on already strained social and healthcare systems (OECD 2021).
According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (2025), ‘an age-friendly municipality listens to the wishes and needs of its elderly residents to help them live the way they want to.‘ Yet, while there are many assessment tools available to evaluate the functional capacity, wishes, and needs of older people, most services they actually use are not health-related.
This raises a crucial question: how can we better support older adults in leading independent and meaningful lives outside of health and social services?
A key challenge is strengthening autonomy and participation. Older persons’ agency is limited less by their individual capacity than by systemic barriers such as ageism, expert-driven decision-making, and rising service fees (Levy & Macdonald 2016). We need more research to examine how older persons experience belonging, inclusion, and self-determination in their communities.
Discourse around older persons in Finland
Finland is often cited as a strong welfare state with comprehensive social and healthcare services. Research, however, paints a mixed picture. On one hand, extended longevity has meant longer periods of care dependency whereas studies of the University of Jyväskylä (Koivunen et al. 2021; Munukka et al. 2021) suggest that both functional and cognitive capacity have also increased, mainly due to improvements in health, education, nutrition, and working life.
Despite these advances, older adults often remain excluded from decision-making (Ahosola et al. 2024). Also, for one reason or another, services remain out of their reach, or older people may be excluded from certain social and health services because of their age (Tamminen & Pirhonen 2021). Policy debates and media narratives continue to frame ageing mainly in terms of decline and care needs. While these services are vital, they risk reinforcing stereotypes of older people as passive recipients rather than active contributors. Many older persons express desires to share their expertise, engage with communities, and participate as valued citizens (Sirén et al. 2023; Ikäinstituutti 2021; WHO 2025).
According to Vaarama (2022), it is regrettably common in Finland to exclude individuals aged 80 and over from population and opinion surveys, while still presenting the results as representing ‘the opinions of Finns’. Such practices also reflect broader societal values. This raises the question of whether the perspectives of more than 300,000 citizens over the age of 80 are considered less important than those of the rest of the adult population – or whether they are implicitly excluded from the categories of ‘Finns’ or ‘the population’.
The persistence of ageist assumptions can be seen, for example, in the Futures Barometer 2025 (Rekola et al. 2025), where people over 85 were not asked about their future visions. Such omissions imply that older persons are uninterested in – or incapable of – shaping society’s future, despite evidence to the contrary. This framing diminishes their voices and neglects the wealth of knowledge and intergenerational wisdom they hold (Levy & Macdonald 2016).
My father passed away when I was 18, and my mother when I was 23. Those were the biggest turning points in my life. There were so many things I never had the chance to ask or to learn. I’ve tried to pass on to my children the importance of asking before it’s too late.
man, aged 89
Although there is interest in the views and experiences of older people, it is mostly limited to studies that focus explicitly on ageing. Examples of such research targeted exclusively at older adults include Self-reported information and health register data on chronic diseases in the oldest old (Halonen et al. 2023).
To build more functional and meaningful late-life years, we need deeper insights into older persons’ everyday lives. Particularly underexplored are questions of what constitutes a meaningful life for older individuals, and how ‘occupational justice’ can be promoted through recognition of their personal experiences.
Systemic change and the shift towards healthy ageing
Evidence suggests that increasing healthy and active life years not only enhances well-being but also reduces demand for intensive services (WHO 2015; WHO 2025; OECD 2021). This requires more than healthcare solutions. Systemic reforms are needed to create open, accessible, and inclusive environments – such as age-friendly cities – where older persons can exercise agency and participate fully in society.
Promoting meaningful ageing means challenging ageist stereotypes and shifting public debates and narratives. Levy and Macdonald (2016) identify three key strategies to reduce age discrimination:
- Evidence-based policies and better legal protection
- Stronger data collection and research on age discrimination
- Education and intergenerational dialogue
These strategies highlight that combatting ageism involves not only changing attitudes but also reforming institutions and systems to safeguard older persons’ rights.
Good daily living is about health, routine and order, the ability to notice small sparks of beauty and happiness, and a sense of being in control.
woman, aged 79
The WHO’s Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030) emphasises that health is not just the absence of disease, but also belonging, purpose, autonomy, and participation (WHO 2025). Recent studies show that while families and professionals often strive to create meaningful everyday lives for older adults, their understanding of what ‘meaningful’ means may differ (Peoples, Pedersen & Moestrup 2020). This highlights the need for dialogue and participatory approaches to bridge the gap between care models and lived experience.
The Story Archive: narratives as evidence for change
To respond to these challenges, we co-developed the Story Archive, a repository of 409 narratives collected mostly by university students. They capture everyday lives, environments, and experiences of older persons, highlighting themes such as autonomy, social connectedness, and access to resources (Tuttunet.fi 2024).
The archive serves multiple purposes. For students, it fosters intergenerational encounters and deeper understanding of diversity in ageing. For researchers, it provides rich qualitative data on lived experiences and meanings of ageing. Lastly, it offers policymakers and service designers evidence on systemic barriers and opportunities for reform.
This initiative aligns with international discussions, such as the proposed UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons, which emphasises dignity, diversity, and participation (UN 2021). By placing older persons’ voices at the centre, the Story Archive not only documents common elements of meaningful lives but also provides a replicable model for narrative data collection across contexts.
I am interested in digital devices and enjoy learning new things. Learning the Finnish language can be both helpful and challenging, but I’m doing my best. Sometimes I worry about my home country, Iran, but when I need help, my husband is always there for me.
woman, aged 68
Expanding the narrative towards global collaboration
The Story Archive offers valuable insights, but further expansion is needed. Future collections should cover both urban and rural contexts across Finland, capturing diverse cultural, social, and geographic experiences. In the future, we must focus on the diversity of older people. A recent Finnish study has identified later middle age (approximately 65–80 years) as a distinct stage of life that differs from old age (Rantanen & Koivunen 2022). The methodology and guidelines – already available in Finnish, Swedish and English – make international collaboration possible.
We envision future partnerships where students and researchers worldwide contribute to narrative collections, fostering intergenerational understanding and supporting systemic change through participatory research. At Metropolia, we continue to integrate storytelling into education, ensuring respectful, anonymised narratives that elevate older people’s voices.
I enjoy being for younger people a figure who is old, experienced, and wise from life – a sort of ‘old fox‘.
man, aged 86
By amplifying these lived experiences, the Story Archive can contribute to a movement for social justice, equality, and recognition of older persons as active citizens whose rights and perspectives shape the future.
The next step is to deepen our understanding through knowledge about meaningful everyday lives, opportunities for participation, and occupational justice of older persons’ by using intergenerational and participatory approaches. Do you know what meaningful everyday life consists of for the older persons close to you?
Authors
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Toini Palo
Principal Lecturer, RDI Project TeamPhD, occupational therapist and coach Toini Palo is a researcher and developer of collaboration and co-creation in national and international projects.
About the author -
Johanna Niemi
Specialist, Metropolia University of Applied SciencesJohanna is a specialist and teacher at Metropolia, as well as a continuous learner in matters of equality. She has worked in several RDI projects at Metropolia.
About the author -
Anna Kaipainen
Specialist, Future Proof Health and Wellbeing Innovation HubMaster of Rehabilitation, physiotherapist Anna Kaipainen works as a project manager, researcher and developer in international and national initiatives advancing healthy living and multidisciplinary collaboration.
About the author -
Miia Rolamo
Senior Lecturer, Metropolia UAS, School of WellbeingMiia Rolamo is a Senior Lecturer in the Bachelor's Degree Programme for Applied Gerontology. As a gerontologist, she is interested in promoting meaningful everyday life and social inclusion for older adults.
About the author
References
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