Across global markets, demographic change is quietly reshaping the investment landscape. People are living longer, healthcare is advancing at pace and societies are redefining what it means to age well.
For investors, these shifts are more than social observations, they are economic realities driving long-term opportunity.
At LGT, we believe that sustainable returns depend on the health, stability and resilience of the societies in which we invest. That belief underpins our more than financial returns framework, a core pillar of our integrated approach to sustainability, which looks at how capital can enable both healthier societies and cleaner economies and in turn, translates these themes into investable opportunities.
Global populations are ageing rapidly: by 2050, one in six people will be over 65. This shift will transform consumption patterns, labour markets and healthcare systems alike. While longevity presents certain challenges, it is also an opportunity to invest in solutions that help people live longer, healthier and more connected lives.
The health and wellbeing sector sits at the centre of this transition. Preventative medicine, biotechnology, digital diagnostics and home-based care are expanding rapidly, supported by structural demand for accessible, cost-effective health services. Beyond healthcare itself, innovation is emerging across adjacent industries: nutrition, housing design, mobility and lifelong learning are all adapting to support an ageing yet active population.
Global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is focused on developing and commercialising prescription medicines, with an aim to reach 50 million people through healthcare initiatives by 2025. Their strategy targets major health concerns like oncology and cardiovascular diseases, as well as autoimmune and neurological disorders amongst others, to address global health needs and an ageing population. Despite being in a mature industry, they see growth opportunities in rare diseases, which often lack sufficient funding and research and development.
For long-term investors, these trends could offer opportunities for growth that align financial outcomes with positive societal impact. Investing in healthier societies is, in essence, an investment in human resilience.
Healthier societies do not exist in isolation; they depend on the health of the planet that sustains them. Environmental degradation – through pollution, resource depletion and climate change – undermines the foundations of public health and wellbeing. That’s why investing in low-carbon infrastructure, clean energy and circular resource systems is as much a social imperative as an environmental one.
Our investment framework recognises this connection. By targeting technologies that reduce pollution and improve air and water quality, as a few examples, our investments look to support the transition to cleaner economies – enhancing the conditions for public health and therefore for longer, better lives.
In this way, investments within the environmental sector reinforce the same goals as investing in healthcare and wellbeing: prevention, resilience and quality of life.
For us, our approach to sustainability reflects the values of the Princely Family, whose long-term view has guided LGT for generations: that prosperity is most enduring when it serves both people and the planet. Through this lens, more than financial returns means recognising that sustainable value arises when capital contributes to healthier, cleaner and more inclusive systems.
An ageing global population presents both challenges and opportunities, calling for innovation, smarter infrastructure and new forms of collaboration between business, government and investors. For those looking to capture opportunity and manage the risks, understanding the interconnections between demographic change, technological innovation and sustainability will be key.
The 2025 360 Report explores these dynamics in depth, from healthier societies and cleaner economies, to the frameworks guiding how we measure and deliver sustainable progress. Download the report below.
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