The third annual HSBC Future of Retirement study, the largest study of ageing and retirement ever undertaken, has found that far from being a drain on society, older people are huge contributors to the economic and cultural wellbeing of their nations.

Conducted with Oxford University’s Oxford Institute of Ageing, The Future of Retirement project surveyed 21,000 people in 21 countries and territories.

The study explodes the myth that older people are dependents whose care drains vital resources from nations struggling to cope with ageing populations. In fact, through taxation, volunteer work and the provision of care for family members, HSBC has found that those in their 60s and 70s are the foundations upon which their nations build.

In Canada, for example, HSBC calculates people aged between 60 and 79 contribute $2.2 billion each year in tax payments and $3.1 billion in volunteer work.

Stephen Green, HSBC Group Chairman, said: “We are living longer and, in many societies, living better than ever. This should be cause for celebration, but recognition of this achievement is too often buried beneath concern over the funding of retirement. This unique study shows that we should not allow such fears to obscure the enormous contribution that those over 60 make to all of our lives.”

The HSBC study found that a fifth of people (19%) aged 60-70 volunteer, with a further one in six (15%) giving as much as half a day each week. In the United States, the over 60s provide 3.67 billion hours per year of voluntary work. At the federal minimum wage of US$5.15 per hour, that’s worth US$18.9 billion every year. In Canada they contributed 416 million voluntary hours per year, which at the minimum wage of $7.55 is worth a total of $3.1 billion.

The research also indicates that the trend of taking early retirement in mature markets, with the exception of Germany, is declining. People not only expect but want to continue working. Worldwide, seven out of 10 people (71%) currently in work, who expect to continue to working rather than retiring early, say it is because they want to. Only in Russia, India and the Philippines and South Korea, is there a strong feeling that individuals have to work longer than they would prefer.

According to HSBC’s research, people the world over are now able to live the lives at the age of 70 that previous generations would have enjoyed at 50. People in their 60s and 70s generally feel in good health, and there are only small differences between people of this age and those in their 40s and 50s in terms of control and quality of life.

In mature economies, three quarters (75%) of people globally in their 60s feel in good or very good health. The highest proportions of healthy people in their 70s are to be found in Canada (76%), the UK (73%) and the United States (72%). But this isn’t a Western phenomenon. Generally, the transitional economies surveyed report good levels of health, too.