139 © Te Author(s) 2018 A. Zaidi (eds.), Building Evidence for Active Ageing Policies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6017-5_8 8 The Active Ageing Index: A Tool to Develop the Strategy of Active Ageing in the Basque Country (Spain) Elena del Barrio, Angel Rodriguez-Laso, Olga Mayoral, Mayte Sancho, and Lide Amilibia 8.1 Introduction Demographic changes experienced in recent years and projections of the future population make ageing of the population of the Basque Country a pressing issue, both for society as a whole and for its governance. Currently, the Basque Country population is slightly above 2 million (Table 8.1, referring to year 2014): out of them, 732,611 are people of age 55+, constituting more than one-third of the total population (33.7% of the men population, 36.4% of the women population). For compari- son, 19.4% are young people (16–34 years old). In Spain and the rest of the 28 developed countries of the European Union (EU-28), the percent- age of the population over 55 years is 29.6% (INE 2014a, b, c) and 35.0% (Eustat 2014a, b), respectively. Te Basque Country is the fourth most aged region of Spain. E. del Barrio (*) • A. Rodriguez-Laso • O. Mayoral • M. Sancho Matia Institute of Gerontology, San Sebastián/Donosti, Basque Country, Spain L. Amilibia Basque Government, Basque Country, Spain