In a commentary, SMU President Professor Lily Kong said that public debates about ageing societies often centre on healthcare and its affordability. She noted that these concerns are real, but an ageing society tests more than healthcare systems. It also tests how economies function and how labour markets adapt. Prof Kong noted that ageing reshapes economies in at least three ways. First, it increases the fiscal demands of supporting a larger older population through healthcare and long-term care. Second, it raises concerns about labour supply and productivity as workforces age, and the attendant reduced tax base. Third, and too often overlooked, it creates opportunities for new markets, services, and forms of innovation, if societies are willing to look beyond a narrow conception of “eldercare”. She also noted that understanding these dynamics requires better research into how ageing shapes economic behaviour: how older adults consume, save, work and invest their time. It also requires abandoning the assumption that ageing necessarily implies decline. Prof Kong said that ageing is certainly a test of fiscal sustainability and healthcare capacity, but it is also a test of imagination.