Vetek Association’s Ilia Stambler on why investing in healthy longevity is vital for national and global prosperity.
The economic crossroads of aging
The world population now faces a dilemma: become healthier, more culturally and intellectually advanced and economically more prosperous, or experience declining health, diminishing human values and economic crises. Proceeding in this or the other direction can depend on a single factor: the ability to address the population aging challenge and achieve healthy longevity for the people.
The choice between economic prosperity and disaster, in relation to the population aging, is especially clear. If we are able to prevent aging-related diseases and extend healthy longevity for the population, we will create massive savings for the healthcare and welfare systems, in fact we will save the healthcare and welfare systems that may be threatened by collapse by the burden of aging-related diseases and disabilities. In addition to direct savings in the healthcare and welfare system, there will be indirect, but not less substantial economic benefits from extending healthy longevity, such as extending the period of productivity of experienced older workers, preventing social collision due to economic disparities between the younger and older generation, developing biomedical industry, or more specifically the ‘healthy longevity industry’ that can be a driver of the total economic development, freeing resources for additional areas of economic, scientific, technological and social development. These benefits can be realized if we rise to the challenge of extending healthy longevity.
The price of inaction
In an opposite case, if we fail to properly address the aging challenge, fail to mitigate aging-related diseases and disabilities, then humanitarian and economic disasters can be expected – the overburdening of hospitals by chronic aging-related conditions, bankruptcy of the pension system, an epidemic of loneliness and depression of older persons. We saw the first signs of the negative scenario during the COVID times. The disease that mostly affected the older people, without a sufficient mitigation, brought many national and global communities to the edge of a profound humanitarian, economic and social crisis. And that was just a small sign of what can happen if we are not able to significantly prevent and mitigate aging-related ill health.
The longevity dividend in practice
But in a positive scenario, if we are indeed able to significantly prevent and mitigate aging-related ill health and extend healthy longevity, the humanitarian and economic benefits will be enormous, for the society and for the individuals. It was estimated that for a large country like the US (the population of 340 million), the direct economic benefits from extending healthy life even by one year, primarily for the healthcare and welfare system, can be hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
For Israel, with the population of about 10 million people, the general life expectancy of about 82 years and healthy life expectancy of about 71 years (according to the latest WHO data) – the national economic benefits of improving healthy life expectancy just by one year can be at least 1.5 billion dollars a year (~5 billion NIS per year), a very significant boost to the national economic and social infrastructure. This estimate was made by economists of the University of Southern California, from the research group investigating the concept of the Longevity Dividend or economic benefits from extending healthy longevity.
And not just at the state budget level, but at the individual company and employee level, there is money to be made in the longevity industry. The emerging longevity industry field is estimated to circulate yearly billions of dollars already, and it can be expected to grow to perhaps trillions in the next decades, as the market potentially includes all of us. Thus, it may be a good time to enter the longevity field, as it is young and burgeoning, for the individual and public benefit.
That is the choice we now face: wellness and prosperity or the opposite, depending on the competence of our response to population aging. The choice is in our hands. The choice is critical for the international as well as national communities, such my country, Israel.
Building Israel’s longevity ecosystem
Efforts are underway to bring these issues and this critical choice to the forefront of academic, public and policy discussion. Thus, efforts have been made to educate Israeli decision makers about the vital importance of a continued support of the healthy longevity field for the country’s future. And indeed, in Israel, largely as a result of the educational efforts by longevity advocates, despite the war, despite the massive across-the-board budget cuts, in 2025, some budgets were still preserved for aging and healthy longevity research and calls for research proposals specifically aiming to address aging and extend healthy longevity were issued by the Israel Ministry of Science, and Ministry of Health, altogether about 3 million USD or 10 million NIS.
In addition, several million dollars are expected to be soon allocated within the framework of the BIRAX Ageing Program (The Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership on Ageing). The allocations are not large, considering the crucial importance of the field. Still, their existence is encouraging, and may provide the basis for future expansion.
A call to keep longevity on the agenda
The importance of the aging challenge and the need to extend healthy longevity, via enhancing research, development and education in the aging field, need to be continuously brought to the public attention, even in the periods when the public attention is focused elsewhere, such as during the war or other adverse events. The aging-related issues will continue to be relevant for the long term, under any circumstances, and they must continue to be discussed.
These issues have been discussed at international conferences for the advancement of healthy longevity that were recently conducted across Europe – in Geneva, Riga, Vilnius (in the Lithuanian Parliament), Porto and others – including a strong Israeli participation in their organization by Vetek (Seniority) Association – the Movement for Longevity and Quality of Life. Such conferences help advance international cooperation, in a field that is important for all.
Yet another such conference, entitled Longevity Nation, organized by Vetek (Seniority) Association, takes place in Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, on October 28-29, 2025. By bringing together leading Israeli and international voices in the longevity space and public figures, the conference aims to advance ethical, scientific and technological solutions for healthy longevity for the benefit of the entire society. This conference also concludes the international ‘Longevity Month‘ campaign, traditionally held in October since 2013.
Building on Israel’s strengths in this area, the Longevity Nation conference aims to help build up the supportive longevity ecosystem in Israel, including grant support programs, boost the prominence of the field in Israel and enhance Israel’s international standing and cooperation in the longevity field. Good practices developed here may be scaled up and implemented anywhere in the world.
Hopefully, the critical long-term aging challenge will continue to be a strong part of the academic, public and political agenda, raising the awareness and support for the healthy longevity field, helping to achieve healthy longevity for all.
About Ilia Stambler
Ilia Stambler, PhD, is the Chief Science Officer and Chairman of Vetek (Seniority) Association – the Movement for Longevity and Quality of Life, Israel and Chairman of International Longevity Alliance. He is a fellow at the Department of Science, Technology and Society, Bar Ilan University, Israel. His PhD thesis from Bar-Ilan University on the History of Life-extensionism in the Twentieth Century resulted in an encompassing compendium on the history of aging and longevity research. His research has focused on the historical and social implications of aging and longevity research, including ethical, policy and regulatory implications. He has also been involved in mathematical modeling of aging and aging-related diseases. He is the author of the books A History of Life-extensionism in the Twentieth Century and Longevity Promotion: Multidisciplinary Perspectives and over 80 academic papers (journal articles and book chapters).
Actively involved in advocacy for healthy longevity research, development and education, Stambler serves as a board member in several international organizations for healthy longevity research and advocacy. He has initiated and organized international advocacy and educational campaigns for aging and longevity research, such as the Longevity Month campaign, and has contributed to formulating national and international calls for research proposals and co-operation programs.
