The most decisive frontier: shortening the distance between longevity and health

On the Iberian Peninsula we have conquered something extraordinary: never before had we lived so long. Spain and Portugal are among the countries with the highest life expectancy in the world. But this triumph contains a silent paradox: the years accumulate, yes, but they are not always lived in good health. A large part of those gained years are spent with limitations, ailments, or loss of autonomy. That is the real gap: the one that separates the years lived from the years lived with well-being.

That gap is today the most decisive frontier of our time. It does not divide countries, but quality of life. It reminds us that biological progress without social well-being is an incomplete victory. That it is not enough to prolong existence if we are not able to add quality, participation, and meaning to each stage of life.

IBERLONGEVA was born precisely to act on that frontier. It does not seek only to prolong existence, but to broaden well-being; it does not only count the years, it seeks to count life better. It is a cross-border project – between Spain and Portugal – coordinated by CENIE, together with the University of Salamanca, the University of Vigo, and the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, financed by the Interreg VI-A Spain–Portugal (POCTEP) program of the European Union.

A comprehensive approach to meaningful longevity
 

The project has been structured around several keys that make it unique and inspiring. First: pioneering territories. Three scenarios: the city of Zamora (Spain), the province of Ourense (Spain), and the district of Bragança (Portugal) – which represent urban, semi-urban, and rural realities. Second: a sample of people over 60 years old, who participate actively not only as subjects of study, but as protagonists of the knowledge that is produced. Third: combining social, clinical, and technological research (use of artificial intelligence to detect patterns of frailty) with community participation, to transform data into action.

This approach has three major elements:

• Science with purpose: not isolated research, but one oriented toward policies, services, and well-being.
• Prevention through knowledge: anticipating frailty before it sets in, and acting with accessible, personalized, and territorial resources.
• Commitment to the territory: these cross-border contexts are aging quickly, have accelerated demographic challenges (Zamora, Ourense, Pinhal Interior Sul…) and require adapted responses.

Measuring to transform: the science of IBERLONGEVA
 

In 2025, IBERLONGEVA has taken important steps: the multidisciplinary working group has been established, data collection protocols have been defined (questionnaires, functional tests, health assessments), and progress is being made in digitalizing information to build a longevity observatory (OLAS: Observatory for Active and Meaningful Longevity). Preliminary data place the distance at more than 20 years between total life expectancy (83.3 Spain; 81.6 Portugal) and healthy life expectancy (≈61 Spain; ≈59.7 Portugal).

The goal is not only to diagnose, but to intervene: detect risk factors of frailty, design adapted environments, promote healthy lifestyles, strengthen community support. In other words: that the years gained do not become years with limitations, but years of autonomy, participation, well-being.

An Iberian alliance with a vocation for transformation
 

What makes IBERLONGEVA a milestone of the year for CENIE is its character as an alliance: not a local project, but a shared response between two countries, in territories that do not wait for the future: they are already living it. This Spanish-Portuguese cooperation provides scale, diversity, and coherence to the challenge of healthy longevity.

In addition, the project brings together very different actors: universities, nursing centers, health schools, technological entities, public services, local communities. This transversality is what allows longevity to be thought of not as a matter for specialists, but as an issue of active citizenship and integrated public policies.

A proof of this commitment is that IBERLONGEVA is launched in 2025 with the will to leave a legacy: not only academic publications, but a permanent observatory, accessible data, tools for professionals and society, replicable prevention models in other territories.

From concern to hope
 

When we talk about aging we often refer to the “problem” of living more years. IBERLONGEVA takes a turn: it proposes that living longer can be an advantage if we live better. That is the promise that makes it a standout action. Many initiatives measure frailty; this one measures opportunity.

Imagine if it were possible to shorten that gap of more than 20 years between living and living well. It would mean less dependency, fewer burdens for health systems, but also — and above all — more full lives for millions of people. That vision is not utopian: it is scientific, community-based, territorial. It is IBERLONGEVA.

Why is this project one of the great ones of the year?
 

Because it synthesizes CENIE’s mission: to turn longevity into health, participation, and meaning. Because it places at the center what is often seen as marginal: the years we live with autonomy. Because it articulates science, territory, community. And because it offers a scalable model: references for Spain, for Portugal, for Europe.

The slogan could be: “Reducing the distance between living and living well.” And that is the core of the message we want to highlight. Because in an aging society, resignation is not an option: action is. And the action represented by IBERLONGEVA gives voice to this generation, builds the future, and affirms that aging is no longer waiting for the end, but opening another stage of meaning.