Fitter, faster, stronger – and smarter. I’m paraphrasing, but that’s how researchers at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently summed up the Baby Boom generation in a recent report on the consequences of global ageing.

The developed world may be running out of lithe young things to drive our economies forward as birth rates collapse, but the oldies that remain are brainier than any generation before and can pick up at least some of the slack, it said.

The IMF’s findings rely on data from 41 advanced and emerging market economies and show that, on average, older people from around the age of 50 are smarter or more cognitively able today than ever before. Moreover, of all the indicators of healthy ageing (better retained agility, flexibility, strength, stamina etc), it is an imp

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