Background: Flanders (Belgium) is aging at high speed. In 2060, almost one in three (32 percent) will be older than 60. The number of people aged 80 and over will increase from more than 400,000 today to nearly 800,000 in 2060. This demographic change can be witnessed throughout the entire region, yet older people are overrepresented in rural areas. A large majority of older people is ‘aging in place’. This often occurs in places that witness a severe decline in basic facilities and that suffer from a loss of its young(er) population.
