Although the CIS countries are connected together by the legacy of breaking away from the Soviet Union, they have had a distinctive transition course and are rather diverse in terms of the population ageing challenges and policy responses in place. The commonality is that a comprehensive national strategy on ageing is lacking, and many of necessary reforms were put aside owing to political uncertainties, lack of societal consensus, and financial instability. The notion of active ageing is associated with the term “accelerated ageing,” which is understood to be an individual living a life under harsh living conditions or a society experiencing rapid increases in the relative number of older persons, and therefore it carries a negative connotation. Yet, in the same spirit as the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations 2012, the CIS countries have initiated sectoral programmes towards enhancing employment of older workers, social participation of older people in the society in a wider sense and also measures promoting health and independent living of older persons. 1. Introduction The term active ageing has now occupied a central place in the international discourse on policy on ageing, particularly in the EU-27 countries which have been observing the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations 2012 (EY2012). It is reasonable to expect that the EY2012 would contribute to raising awareness on the European as well as international discourse on active ageing and also in informing the policy interventions required. Meanwhile, the impact of the EY2012 can be extended beyond the twenty-seven EU countries and some essential lessons can also be shared internationally, including in the immediate EU neighbourhood, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. This paper is about active ageing policy discourse in the CIS countries, and is organised in six sections. After this introduction, Section 2 outlines the specific patterns of the active ageing concept used in the international policy frameworks, in the CIS countries as well as in other parts of the world. Section 3 presents the demographic outlook of these countries and highlights the diversity across CIS countries with respect to the phenomenon of population ageing. Section 4 reports on the differential extent of challenges faced by these countries, in terms of employment, social participation and capacity to live a healthy and independent life, in line with the three dimensions of the EY2012. Section 5 describes the policy approaches adopted across
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