‘Youth ends at 32, old age starts at 54’
Ageing is all in the mind, it’s said. But, a British government survey has now estimated that youth ends at 32 while old age begins at 54.
The survey by the United Kingdom’s department for work and pensions has claimed that people below 25 believe old age starts sooner than those over the age of 50.
Though officially the old age begins at 54, the survey estimated, on average, it says, Britons believe that ripe age starts at 59, while people over 80 believe that youth ends at 52 and old age starts at 68.
According to Steve Webb, the UK’s pensions minister, said that attitudes towards age must change due to Britain’s rapidly ageing population.
And, with the retirement age for men and women reaching 66 by 2020, the UK minister said that people must alter their perceptions of when people become “old”.
“People today are living longer, working longer and contributing more in their later lives. This is great news and it is important that our perceptions of age keep up with the reality of our increasing longevity,” he said.
The survey, called “Attitudes to Age in Britain”, found that old people have the opposite attitude towards young people.
In an unlikely finding, the survey says that young people also suffer age discrimination, with under-25s twice as likely to have experienced age discrimination as other age groups.
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