It is Governments and bureaucracies that first gave meaning to age. If children were not allowed to work, then how do you define a child? If older people were entitled to a pension, how do we define that entitlement. If children are to be broken into different classes, how was it to be done? All used chronological age. The number of birthdays that we have celebrated.

Before that, age had little meaning. There might be rights of passage to adulthood. There was no concept of adolescence. School classes tend to have many different ages. There was no meaning attached to one’s age. Many people did not know how old they were. Birthdays were unknown and uncelebrated. The “Happy Birthday to You” song was not copyrighted until 1935. With time, age became a benchmark. “Reading Ages” compare children based on the idea that you "should" be able to read to a certain level by a certain age.

Age came to mark the passage of life events. It was not long ago that marriage “should” happen before the age of 25. The most loaded age is 65. This is associated with “retirement”. According to the stereotype this is an era of rest and leisure. Ageism may have already had a role to play. Being unemployed at 55 is part of the ageist stereotype tied to chronological age. So too is being passed over for promotion. Both can lead to retirement. Chronological age is a shortcut to ageism.

Age is an Empty Variable

There is a growing disconnect between age and the way our bodies, minds and attitudes change. The disconnect permeates these Newsletters. The explosion in life expectancy has meant a much longer period of “healthy ageing”. What the researchers have shown is that there is no right to healthy ageing. There is huge variability across individuals. It is that variability that makes age redundant as an explanation.

We know that our biological age is shifting. More recent cohorts have lower biological ages at different chronological ages. We can create an index of objective biological age. We can include medical measures: cardiovascular, metabolic, inflammatory, kidney, liver and lung function. We can then compare that measure of biological health across two cohorts twenty years apart. At every age the younger group does better. At 65 there is an improvement of nearly 5 years. That is a twenty five percent improvement in twenty years. This destroys whatever stereotype people hold for a 65-year-old. 60 is the new 65. But other studies have shown huge variations in those improvements. African Americans have gained no healthy ageing compared to Caucasians who have. People living in deprived areas have suffered a similar fate. People with higher levels of education have done better than the average. There is huge diversity. We cannot generalize.

We know that cognitive age is moving in the same way. There are huge average improvements in cognitive ability with each successive generation. Flynn’s effect demonstrated this with IQ tests. With each success generation since the 1950’s the average score has increased. The average increase destroys our internal benchmarks of the mental ability of a 60- or 70-year-old. The average 80-year-old has the cognitive ability of the average 30 year old. There is huge variability across individuals. Illness can suppress cognitive ability. Higher education promotes it. A stimulating job and family prolong cognitive ability. Deprivation depletes it.

If you tell me, you are 65, it tells me nothing. I need to know the year of your birth and hence your cohort. I need to know your race and where you live. I need to know your job and whether you are still working. I need to know about your health and your education.

Social Age

There have been huge average improvements in biological and cognitive ageing. That improvement in healthy ageing is part, but only part, of the changes in social age. The benchmarks of Society are changing as well. With them comes a huge increase in diversity at all ages. Since older people have more experiences, they have the most diversity.

Last year half of the children born in the UK were born out of wedlock. That does not mean that they were not living with their “parents” in a home. Their biological parents might not be married. They may not even be still together. Their family could be a “mine”, “yours” and “ours” family. The incidence of women having no children in their lifetime is growing. So too are the families with only one child. Women are now over thirty when having their first child. The stereotypical family of a couple plus 2.5 children is long gone.

The magic of 65 is fading. Most developed countries in the world now have a state retirement age above 65. Many people used to retire before 65. Now many people work after it. Japan still has 65 as its retirement age. Half of all the people between 65 and 69 still work. A third of people between 70 and 74 are still working. Healthy ageing means that people want to and can still work. Alternatively, their longevity is putting strains on their pensions.

You tell me you are 65. If I want to understand your attitudes, alone it tells me nothing. I need to know your “life-course”. Whether you are or were married? Divorced? Employed and ever been made redundant? Your illnesses? Where you have lived and the deprivation you have seen.

The Diversity of Age

We are all living longer and can have more experiences. We are living healthier longer so those can be valuable experiences. There has never been such a diverse set of ageing people. We all age from the day that we are born. The lenses of our eyes grow throughout our lives. They thicken and yellow. They become less flexible. They can no longer change shape enough to let us read. We need glasses. Many other changes are happening. Obesity is not confined to older people. It is having a massive impact on health and happiness. By the time we reach are 80’s we have all followed a different path of health and life. We have never been so diverse. Age tells us nothing.