Although seven out of 10 early 50-somethings quizzed for the survey defined themselves as middle-aged, the average age at which the period of life was perceived to start was 54 years and 347 days old.

BBC: Middle age begins at 55 years, survey suggests

Women and anyone else with an above average life expectancy tend to do better because they typically collect benefits for a longer period of time.

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His key damning metric: Between 1981 and 2009, average Chinese life expectancy grew by only five years, while in nations that started the period with a similar statistic (68 years) and had slower economic growth (including South Korea and Malaysia), the average rose by 7-14 years.

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