--- title: Norway is the Best Place to Grow Old description: But a third of countries are not meeting the needs of their growing aging populations canonical: https://time.com/3449963/norway-best-place-to-grow-old/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-30T22:00:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:36.076Z article:section: Health og:title: Norway is the Best Place to Grow Old og:description: But a third of countries are not meeting the needs of their growing aging populations og:url: https://time.com/3449963/norway-best-place-to-grow-old/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46b31eba848764f/6986a62fd0b6f21f10306665/163252583-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5138 og:image:height: 2890 og:image:alt: 163252583 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Norway is the Best Place to Grow Old twitter:description: But a third of countries are not meeting the needs of their growing aging populations twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46b31eba848764f/6986a62fd0b6f21f10306665/163252583-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Norway Is the Best Place to Grow Old > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=829be332-4a97-46c6-a866-03bfdfae4fd6&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A 100-Year-Old Sex Therapist on Having Good Sex, Then and Now [Watch (HLS stream): A 100-Year-Old Sex Therapist on Having Good Sex, Then and Now](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uJFYIrvP.m3u8) (3:13)  _Published 2014-08-20. A practicing sex therapist in New York City, Dr. Shirley Zussman has witnessed everything from the legalization of the contraceptive birth control pill to the AIDs epidemic in the 1980s to the rise of internet porn in the new millenium._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 30, 2014 10:00 PM UTC  Spain, Senior couple at beach Spain, Senior couple at beach Westend61—Getty Images/Brand X by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 30, 2014 10:00 PM UTC Growing old is a pleasure—if you’re in Norway, that is. A new report looking at the social and economic wellbeing of older people in 96 countries reveals that Norway is the happiest place to age, followed by Sweden, Switzerland, and Canada. It’s not as much fun elsewhere. The report, called the [Global AgeWatch Index](http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/), found that a third of countries are ill equipped to deal with increasingly large aging populations. The report says that in low and middle income countries, only a quarter of people over age 65 receive a pension. Countries on the low-end of the list lacked programs for free health care and chronic disease treatment, community centers and subsidized transport. The report by HelpAge International and the University of Southampton shows that by 2050, 21% of the global population will be over age 60\. While more people are living longer, if people are also living sicker or without support, that takes a serious economic toll. In the U.S. alone, [2012 data](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120925143920.htm) noted that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid eat up about 40% of all federal spending and 10% of the nation’s gross domestic product. The authors note that Norway claimed the top spot because it has well-developed organizations for the elderly, a long history of state welfare and strong social media campaigns that create public awareness of age-related issues. The worst country for the elderly is Afghanistan, according to the report, and the United States ranked seventh overall. Here’s the entire Global AgeWatch ranking: * Norway (1) * Sweden (2) * Switzerland (3) * Canada (4) * Germany (5) * Netherlands (6) * Iceland (7) * United States (8) * Japan (9) * New Zealand (10) * United Kingdom (11) * Denmark (12) * Australia (13) * Austria (14) * Finland (15) * France (16) * Ireland (17) * Israel (18) * Luxembourg (19) * Estonia (20) * Spain (21) * Chile (22) * Uruguay (23) * Panama (24) * Czech Republic (25) * Costa Rica (26) * Belgium (27) * Georgia (28) * Slovenia (29) * Mexico (30) * Argentina (31) * Poland (32) * Ecuador (33) * Cyprus (34) * Latvia (35) * Thailand (36) * Portugal (37) * Mauritius (38) * Italy (39) * Armenia (40) * Romania (41) * Peru (42) * Sri Lanka (43) * Philippines (44) * Viet Nam (45) * Hungary (46) * Slovakia (47) * China (48) * Kyrgyzstan (49) * South Korea (50) * Bolivia (51) * Columbia (52) * Albania (53) * Nicaragua (54) * Malta (55) * Bulgaria (56) * El Salvador (57) * Brazil (58) * Bangladesh (59) * Lithuania (60) * Tajikistan (61) * Dominican Republic (62) * Guatemala (63) * Belarus (64) * Russian (65) * Paraguay (66) * Croatia (67) * Montenegro (68) * India (69) * Nepal (70) * Indonesia (71) * Mongolia (72) * Greece (73) * Moldova (74) * Honduras (75) * Venezuela (76) * Turkey (77) * Serbia (78) * Cambodia (79) * South Africa (80) * Ghana (81) * Ukraine (82) * Morocco (83) * Lao PDR (84) * Nigeria (85) * Rwanda (86) * Iraq (87) * Zambia (88) * Uganda (89) * Jordan (90) * Pakistan (91) * Tanzania (92) * Malawi (93) * West Bank and Gaza (94) * Mozambique (95) * Afghanistan (96) ## Transcript [00:00] Sexual pleasure is only one part of what men and [00:03] women want from each other. They want intimacy, they [00:07] want closeness, they want understanding, they want [00:10] comfort, they want fun, and they want somebody who [00:14] really cares about them beyond going to bed with [00:16] them, and I think people are always seeking that. In [00:20] every generation. [ MUSIC ] [00:23] My name is Shirley Zussman. I just reached a hundred [00:27] years of age, and I am a practicing [00:32] sex therapist. I was invited with my husband [00:36] to a lecture in New Jersey, in 1966. Masters [00:41] and Johnson were the speakers. No body knew about [00:43] them. Human sexual response had just been [00:46] published, what I saw was a couple [00:51] who will say that people had problems in an area [00:55] in their lives that was very important and they were [00:58] recognizing that it was all not just. Glamorous and [01:01] wonderful to be sexual. One had to almost had to [01:05] learn how to be a good partner and to endure the [01:08] pleasure not only for yourself but for each other. And I [01:11] thought we can do that. Why can't we do that? And we [01:15] applied for training with Masters and Johnson at that [01:17] time. The patients that came to us were people who [01:21] read the paper. The only way they do anything about [01:25] the work that was being done there. And the problems [01:28] they came with, was somewhat different than the [01:30] problems they come with today. Mostly, women came [01:33] because would put out orgasmic, they didn't know how [01:36] to achieve an orgasm, but they wanted one. It [01:40] was so over that ,. Goal they had for themselves and [01:43] how do I get there. That was one Masters and [01:47] Johnson's contribution that there was a relatively [01:51] simple way to start learning about your body. In [01:55] other words, get, get to know your, who you are [01:58] sexually and physically and that was. And [02:03] encouragement for masturbation for learning what [02:06] makes you feel good. I [02:12] see a big change in the we view casual sex. [02:17] In the 60's I think it was not just casual it was frantic. [02:21] I'm shocked at the lack of connection with people; [02:25] because of iPhones, even I love my iPhone. There [02:30] is so much less actual physical connection, there's [02:34] less touching, there's less talking, there's less holding, [02:38] there's less looking, [ INAUDIBLE ]. People get pleasure [02:41] from looking at each other. But the most common [02:43] problem, I would say, in the sex therapy [02:49] that I live in, is a lack of desire. You have to look [02:53] at your priorities. You have to decide what is important [02:57] to make you feel good about yourself and your life. [02:59] And to help make your partner feel good and to [03:03] establish something that is gratifying that really fills [03:07] a need that we all have to be close to somebody. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3449963/norway-best-place-to-grow-old/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3449963/norway-best-place-to-grow-old/"},"headline":"Norway Is the Best Place to Grow Old","datePublished":"2014-09-30T22:00:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:36.076Z","description":"But a third of countries are not meeting the needs of their growing aging populations","url":"https://time.com/3449963/norway-best-place-to-grow-old/","keywords":["Aging","norway"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46b31eba848764f/6986a62fd0b6f21f10306665/163252583-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46b31eba848764f/6986a62fd0b6f21f10306665/163252583-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"163252583","caption":"163252583","creditText":"Westend61—Getty Images/Brand X","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/aging/","name":"Aging"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3449963/norway-best-place-to-grow-old/","name":"Norway Is the Best Place to Grow Old"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A 100-Year-Old Sex Therapist on Having Good Sex, Then and Now","description":"A practicing sex therapist in New York City, Dr. Shirley Zussman has witnessed everything from the legalization of the contraceptive birth control pill to the AIDs epidemic in the 1980s to the rise of internet porn in the new millenium.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uJFYIrvP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-20T13:40:15.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uJFYIrvP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3449963/norway-best-place-to-grow-old/","duration":"PT3M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3449963/norway-best-place-to-grow-old/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```