Gaby
Aging is inevitable. But it can happen at different speeds depending on where someone lives. Environmental, social, and political conditions can significantly influence how quickly people age.
According to a new study, residents of Denmark age the slowest, while people in Egypt age the fastest.
How Did Researchers Discover This?
Denmark offers the strongest combination of environmental, social, and political conditions that help people lead healthier lives in later years and age more slowly.
This finding comes from an international team of scientists who studied more than 160,000 people from 40 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. The researchers identified factors that affect biological aging processes and analyzed how quickly those processes progress in populations from different regions of the world.
First, the team determined average aging rates. They used an artificial intelligence model that calculates the difference between a person’s chronological age and their predicted age based on risk factors. This measure is called the biological-behavioral age gap. For example, if you are 50 but the AI model estimates that, based on your risk factors, you are effectively 55, your biological-behavioral age gap is 5 years.
Across the four continents studied, Europeans had the smallest biological-behavioral age gap, while people in low-income countries had the largest.
“This research rethinks aging not only as a product of biology and lifestyle but also as the result of broader environmental and socio-political factors, showing that where and how people live can speed up or slow down aging,” said Dr. Morten Shaiybi-Knudsen, an associate professor in the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Aging, in an interview with BBC Science Focus.
Residents of Egypt age the fastest, with an average biological-behavioral age gap of 4.75 years. Following them in the rankings for fastest aging are South Africa and several countries in South America. In Europe, the fastest aging rates were observed in eastern and southern regions.
Meanwhile, residents of Denmark, who age the slowest, showed an average biological-behavioral age gap of 2.35 years. Rounding out the top three are the Netherlands and Finland.
What Conditions Are Necessary for Healthy Aging?
So why do Denmark and much of Northern and Western Europe support slower, healthier aging? Researchers found that key factors include environmental issues like air quality and social factors such as gender equality and socio-economic status.
Another major factor is the socio-political environment. Healthy aging is closely linked to whether politicians act in the public interest, whether citizens have the right to vote, and whether citizens feel free to participate in political parties and democratic elections.
The study also found that people experiencing accelerated aging are eight times more likely to have trouble performing daily tasks and four times more likely to experience cognitive decline.
The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Medicine.
