Tobias Vogt ^1* Elke Loichinger ² Alyson Van Raalte ³ Stephen Ojiambo Wandera ⁴

• ¹ Population Research Centre, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
• ² Federal Institute for Population Studies, Wiesbaden, Germany
• ³ Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
• ⁴ Makerere University, Kampala, Central Region, Uganda

Despite past mortality improvements, the chances of surviving from infancy to older ages are 7 very unevenly distributed and depend on a range of contextual factors. Girls in Botswana live 8 71.9 years on average, under the conditions of the 2024 life table death rates. This is a full 17 9 years longer than girls in Nigeria, and 5 years longer than Botswanan boys. In countries with 10 comparatively high and increasing life expectancy such as Botswana, Rwanda, Kenya or South 11 Africa, the number of older adults will increase steeply during the next years. These countries 12 are also those experiencing among the lowest fertility rates in the region, a combination that 13 makes them the forerunners of population ageing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Already today, 14 around 5-8% of the population in these countries is older than 60 years and this share is 15 expected to double to 10-16% within the next 3 decades 1 . The twelve articles in the special issue "Ageing and health in sub-Sahara Africa" cover a wide 17 range of topics in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and sub-18 Saharan African countries overall. The described increase in the number of older adults 19 creates challenges for policy makers and societies. Of particular concern is the vulnerability of This seems especially true once older adults suffer from chronic conditions and disability. However, a study from Ghana suggests that the receipt of family support is more impacted by 43 an older adult's ability to work rather than the prevalence of a chronic condition 8 . Also family