Why should you read this?
Because ageing is changing, but not in the same way for everyone. I bring the perspective of someone who’s lived through nearly seven decades, worked for over five, and seen peers who began working at 15 or 16 in tough, physical jobs. Their reality isn’t captured by neat averages.
My voice matters because it bridges research with lived experience — and because the way we make sense of ageing together will shape how each of us approaches our later years.
Seventy is the New Seventy
You’ve probably heard the phrase “Seventy is the new fifty-three.” It comes from recent research showing that today’s seventy-year-olds, on average, have the same cognitive ability as fifty-three-year-olds in the year 2000. Physically, they’re closer to fifty-six. In other words, we’re living longer, healthier lives, ageing is changing.
But here’s the thing: seventy is still seventy.
I don’t want to erase the number. What matters is how we inhabit it. What it means to be seventy today is profoundly different from a generation or two ago. Many of us are still working, creating, exercising, exploring, and contributing in ways that might once have been unthinkable.
One line from the report stood out to me:
“People find it difficult to separate the process of getting older, which we all face, with the process of economic aging, which is actually less of a concern for society as a whole.”
That feels true. We often conflate the personal and the economic. Getting older carries fears of decline, yet economically the story isn’t always one of crisis. The transition is difficult, but perhaps it is being managed better than we think.
Another striking passage reframed things:
“We’re younger for longer. We’re middle aged for longer. We are older for longer.”
Longevity isn’t simply adding more years of frailty at the end. Each stage of life is stretching. What it means to be “older” today is not what it was for our parents or grandparents.
And yet there is an economic undertone to all this. The report points out:
“Population aging is only a problem … if we’re not also extending our working lives in proportion.”
This is where I pause. The data shows “effective working lives” rising from 34 to 38 years since 2000. That’s the average.
But averages can be deceiving.
My own working life has already stretched to 52 years – far above that. For many of my contemporaries, work began in their teens, often in physically demanding industries — mining, construction, manufacturing. To ask them to extend even further is unrealistic.
It’s worth remembering: in the 1950s, people could leave school at 15 without qualifications, or at 16 after O-levels. Many did. I left school at 15. Some of my peers went straight into apprenticeships. Others followed their fathers down the mines. These were tough jobs. My own father worked in the chemical industry, coming home each night with his hands stained green by the materials he handled, we can only imagine what that did to his body. There are still people in physically demanding jobs today: roofers, plumbers, postmen, roadside workers, tradespeople. Even with improved health and safety, these roles take a toll on bodies and backs.
So, while averages suggest we’re working longer, the lived reality varies enormously.
Researchers often analyse these patterns from a distance, sometimes from the vantage point of their fifties or younger.
But at 68, I see it differently. I know what it was like.
I’ve seen peers who worked hard from their mid-teens, whose bodies carry the wear of decades of labour. For them, extending working life into the seventies is not just unappealing, it’s impossible.
This is why I prefer to say seventy is the new seventy. Not because we’re pretending to be younger, but because the shape of our lives at this stage is evolving. For some, this means continuing to work, especially if the work is less physically demanding or more fulfilling. For others, it means stepping back, reclaiming health, and seeking purpose beyond paid employment.
Ageing, then, is not just about averages or economic models. It’s about diversity of experience. Some of us will relish continuing, others will need or choose to stop earlier. What matters is that the years gained are not treated simply as an obligation to extend productivity, but as an opportunity to rethink how we want to live, contribute, and thrive.
Seventy is the new seventy — and that is enough.
Reflection prompts
- What does “seventy” mean in your mind, a number, a stage, or something else?
- Do averages reflect your own lived experience, or do they miss something important?
- How do you imagine your own later years, more of the same, or something different?
