/ Economic inequality

Thriving in the City: A Framework for Income and Health in Retirement

• Seong-gee Um and Kwame McKenzie

Wellesley Institute’s Thriving in the City framework is a valuable tool for understanding what resources an individual needs to live a healthy life and assessing how the current policy environment meets these needs. The previous report focused on working-age adults (25-40 years old), this report focuses on the needs of retired older adults (65-74 years old) in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

In current policy rhetoric, retirement income adequacy is often measured in terms of replacement rates, which describes the proportion of pre-retirement income received. However, such a metric does not attempt to measure what a retired person actually needs. If there is broad recognition that everyone in Canada should be able to achieve their full health potential, then adequacy of post retirement income can be usefully linked to the best attainable physical, mental, and social well-being.

Thriving in the City: A Framework for Income and Health in Retirement draws on extensive evidence on the health of older adults. The framework identifies the goods, resources, and services required for a retired person to thrive. It introduces a new paradigm for understanding the connections between income and health and offers a lens through which to consider policy opportunities that support healthy aging. In doing so, this framework brings health and well-being to the forefront of the discussion about the needs of older adults.

Thriving in the City: A Framework for Income and Health in RetirementDownload
Seong-gee Um

Seong-gee Um

Seong-gee Um was a researcher at Wellesley Institute from 2015 to 2021. She received her PhD from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy at the University of Lethbridge. Her research interests lie in the areas of inequality, immigration, and health and social care. Her work explores social policy responses to emerging social risks and how they shape the experiences of vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.

Kwame McKenzie

Kwame McKenzie

Dr. Kwame McKenzie is CEO of Wellesley Institute, which works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the Greater Toronto Area. A practicing psychiatrist, he also holds positions as a full Professor at the University of Toronto and as the Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). As an international expert on the social causes of illness and the development of equitable social policy and health systems, Dr. McKenzie has advised health, housing, education and social services ministers in Canada and the U.K. and has authored more than 280 peer reviewed papers and six books. He is a member of the National Advisory Council on Poverty, and recently co-chaired Canada’s Expert Task Force on Substance Use. He has also worked as a consultant to the World Health Organization. Dr. McKenzie has been a columnist for The Guardian and The Times and a presenter for BBC Radio, and he is regularly published in the Toronto Star.