Middle Age Grows ... Older?

middle age -- period between youth and later life: the period in somebody's life when that person is no longer considered young, usually between 40 and 60. (MSN Encarta)

middle age -- The time of human life between youth and old age, usually reckoned as the years between 40 and 60. Also called midlife. (Answers.com, using the American Heritage Dictionary)

elderly -- past middle age: past middle age and approaching the later stages of life ... (Encarta)

It may be time to change the dictionary.

In a just-released survey, AC Neilsen found that 70% of those aged 45+ consider the 60s to be the "new middle age."

That's an older age than other surveys have found. Academic research published in 2000 found that older men and women thought "midlife" begins at 46 - 48 and ends at 61-62 -- so the aging population may be redefining "midlife" and "middle age" upwards.

There's some support for the idea that longer lifespans are stretching out the traditional milestones of adult life:

"There's evidence that age 50 may, in fact, be the new 40. Because people are waiting later in life to move out of their parents' homes, get married and assume adult responsibilities, the angst and ennui of adult life that previous generations felt by age 40 is now experienced later and later, experts say." -- Chicago Sun-Times, "Midlife Minus The Crisis," 6/16/2006

The Sun-Times may even have it wrong. Tallying Google results shows that the phrase "60 is the new 40" is far more popular than "50 is the new 40":

That's just a count of how many times Google found that phrase, and not a statistically valid survey. But it indicates what people are writing about -- and "the new 40" is all about perception, isn't it?

We were surprised that fifty wasn't more frequently cited as the new forty -- but it turns out that's because "50 is the new thirty." 20,600 results contain that phrase. Of course, 23,600 results claim that "40 is the new 30" -- so we may have to compromise and call it 45.

Perhaps this isn't such a shocker, since life begins ... rather late:

That's a weighted average of a little over 36 years old. If life begins in your mid-30s, is it any wonder that middle age doesn't start for another twenty or more years?