Demographic ageing is a reality not only in Europe but with special evidence in Portugal. In 2020, according to Eurostat data, the European Union's Ageing Index was 137.2%, while in Portugal this figure was 165.1%, only surpassed by Italy, which was 180.9%. Today the population over 65 represents about a fifth of the European population (20.7%) and slightly more in Portugal (22.3%).

These figures reveal an ageing society, that has resulted from a rapid process of transformation. Going back to the beginning of the 21^st century, in 2001, the Ageing Index values were 95.6% in the European Union at 27 States and 101.6% in Portugal, while the weight of the population over 65 was around 15.9% in the European Union and 16.5% in Portugal.

The increase in the importance of the older population has resulted not only from the decrease in birth rates but also from the increase in longevity. The values for the Synthetic Fertility Index in 2020 were 1.50 in the European Union and 1.41 in Portugal, when in 1970 these values were 2.40 and 3.01, respectively. On the other hand, the average life expectancy at age 65 is now 20.3 years in Portugal and the Longevity Index is 29.6%, higher than the European Union values, which are 19.3 years and 28.9%, respectively.

Thus, today we have a society with more elderly and longer-lived people, which poses new challenges in the field of health, economy, and society itself. While life expectancy beyond the age of 65 has been increasing, the number of years of healthy life for those who reach 65 is 9.5 years in the European Union and 8.4 years in Portugal, which highlights the need to safeguard health care and ensure material and social conditions for quality ageing. In this context, its study is particularly relevant, bearing in mind that this age group has very different characteristics and needs and that these needs will also tend to be different since the olderly of the near future will be very different from the olderly of today. Added to this is the evident differentiation of the realities of the olderly according to the territorial context of their living area, with disparities that deserve further study, namely between the reality of metropolitan areas compared to small and medium-sized cities, or between urban areas and rural areas.

Hence, geographers have been aware of the need to study the phenomenon of demographic ageing, naturally introducing the geographical component in their analysis. The project GRAMPCITY - Moving Smartly Towards Accessible and Inclusive Urban Environments for our Elders (PTDC/GES-TRA/32121/2017), funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology/MCTES (PIDDAC) (2018.2023), is a good example of this work, where the aim was to deepen the knowledge of the daily mobility of older people, their living space and ability to access resources and opportunities, and how these aspects affect their quality of life and well-being. However, in the course of this project, the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak emerged, and the project was reformulated in order to be able to analyze the effects of the pandemic on the daily mobility and quality of life of older people.

This thematic section frames the theme of ageing in Portugal and includes three articles where the first corresponds to the presentation of the results of the Grampcity project, opening space for the discussion of the themes included in the two following articles.

The first article by ^{Marques da Costa et al. (2023}), presents the first results of the surveys carried out under the Grampcity project in Aveiro, Coimbra, Área Metropolitana de Lisboa and Faro. Their analysis shows the existence of strong constraints to quality ageing, which were amplified by the effects of the pandemic. The characteristics of the residences, the availability, and conditions of access to areas of daily commerce and socialising spaces, are elements that limit the quality of life of the elderly. It was also evident that there was a territorial differentiation of practices, perceptions, and the impact that the pandemic had on the daily lives of the olderly. The results were quite different between those living in metropolitan contexts and those living in medium-sized cities, concluding that it is necessary to introduce the specific conditions of each territory to create conditions for the promotion of higher quality ageing.

The second article, by ^{Moreira and Pinheira (2023}), addresses the issue of the choice of place of residence after the transition from active to retired status. If the place of residence, while working, is conditioned by the proximity of the workplace, the moment of retirement may be an opportunity to change residence. The study supported by a survey conducted in urban and rural contexts in the interior of Portugal, revealed the existence of significant differences between rural and urban residents, demonstrating the preference of those living in rural areas to change the location of their residence, unlike those living in urban areas who prefer to maintain the location of their residence. The less availability of services and greater difficulty in accessing them, particularly health services, seem to explain this desire, especially for those whose self-assessment of health status is more negative.

In the third article, by ^{Tavares et al. (2023}), a content analysis of national and regional health and ageing programme documents is developed to understand how the Age-Friendly Principles defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) have been integrated. The results show that governance measures are the most prominent in relation to long-term care, while programmes, although addressing the issue of older people, do not do so sufficiently. On the other hand, the WHO Principles are only explicitly mentioned in the National Strategy for Active and Healthy Ageing. The authors conclude that there is a need to deepen health policy concerns about older populations, proposing specific responses to the needs of this age group. They also point out the need for better coordination and articulation of national and regional documents, adapting national proposals to different territorial contexts.