New research reveals how our attitudes towards ageing are changing, and that our expectations don’t always meet our reality. Alex Casey explains.
What’s all this about then?
Wow, I didn’t see you there! I’ve been reading this very interesting new Ipsos global study. It surveyed people in 32 countries to find out how attitudes to ageing are changing (or not) as we careen into a future where one in six people globally will be over the age of 60 by 2030. Here in Aotearoa, the numbers are even more stark: by 2028 we will have more than one million people aged over 65, or one in five people. And by the 2050s, over 65s will likely make up one quarter of the New Zealand population. So how does that all relate to our perceptions of ageing and how we see various life milestones? This study interviewed 1,000 New Zealanders to get the goss.
OK, so what’s the goss?
Spoiler alert: we’re not stoked about getting older. In fact, only 38% of New Zealanders are looking forward to old age a fair amount or a great deal, and 54% are not very much or at all. At least this pessimism has nothing on France, where 88% of people said a huge “sacré bleu” to the marching of time. In Aotearoa, gen Z is the demographic who’s the least looking forward to old age with only 39% keen, millennials are 41% keen and gen X are 44% keen. Things fall off a cliff with the baby boomers, those closest to the VIP entry door, with only 25% looking forward to reaching the life stage.
But wait, when do people reckon ‘old age’ actually starts?
Sorry to all our favourite 66-year-old icons including Judith Collins, Don McGlashan, Annabel Langbein and Steve Hansen, but New Zealanders consider 66 to be the official start of old age (well wishes to Shane Jones in particular, who is turning 66 tomorrow). Should any of you seek greener pastures, Italy and Spain are the most liberal with their numbers, believing that old age starts at 73. Want to feel old? In Indonesia they reckon it’s 59.
Despite this, New Zealanders expect to live to 81 years old – optimistic compared with the global average expectation of 78, but shorter than our actual average life expectancy of 83. Interestingly, with each generation that passes, their optimism for their own lifespan grows – gen Z think they will live to 78, millennials reckon they will peace out at 79, gen X are serving six feet under at 83 and baby boomers are holding tight to 85. Good luck one and all.
What about age as it relates to life milestones?
Although we expect to live a longer life than most around the world, New Zealanders still put a hell of a lot of pressure on ourselves to have children, get married and buy our first home before we turn 30. According to those surveyed, the ideal age to get married is 27, and the ideal age to both buy a house and get pregnant is 29 (30 to become a father). I truly don’t think any New Zealander has ever achieved so much simultaneously outside of Peter Jackson shooting all three Lord of the Rings movies at once, but go off folks!
How do these milestone expectations line up with what’s actually happening?
Just like the Kardashians, our aspirations skew much younger than our reality. We may think getting married at 27 is ideal, but the actual average age of first marriage or civil union is 30.4 years for women and 31.6 years for men. If you chuckled at age 29 being ideal to buy your first home in one of the least affordable property markets in the world, you are on the right side of history. The reality is that first home buyers are older than ever, on average 37 years old in Auckland, 36 in Wellington and 35 in Christchurch. Same with babies too – 29 years old may be the perceived ideal but we’re having them later than ever, on average at 31.5 years old.
What about ageing as it relates to different jobs and higher education?
First off, we are world leaders in our support of mature students – wholesome! A whopping 71% of us believe that no age is too old to start a university course, second in the world only to Ireland (who were 72% in favour of starting SOC101 on your death bed). When it comes to entering professions, we believe the minimum age someone should be in the army is 22, become a surgeon is 30 years old, and become an airline pilot is 39 years old. If you don’t want to wait that long, New Zealanders are OK with people becoming CEOs as young as 35. Boss babies rise!
What about our political leaders?
On average, New Zealanders believe the minimum age someone can lead the country is 39, two years older than Jacinda Ardern when she first took office. At the other end of the spectrum, New Zealanders believe that the maximum age someone can lead the country is 64. That’s nine years older than Christopher Luxon and – checks notes – 16 years younger than Winston Peters. In the words of Mick Jagger (82) you can’t always get what you want.
