How old is old? Huge perception differences across countries

Researching on Generation Y and the aging population for my book on Megatrends, I came accross an interesting study from Nielsen 'The Global impact of an aging world' (which you can download for free after registration, click here).

The first thing that stroke me was the differences of the perception of age (or oldness) across geographies, although after a closer look this isn't too surprising:

(From Nielsen) "In the 14 oldest countries surveyed (median age of 42), 70% think old is over the age of 70, with nearly one
in three thinking old is over age 80. In the 14 youngest countries surveyed (median age of 27), 27% say being in your 60s is old and an equal percentage believe that 70s is old. Less than 1% in the youngest countries surveyed say you’re not old until your 80s.

A person’s own age is also a strong predictor of what age is considered old. Globally, nearly half of those over the age of 60 think that being old means over the age of 80. Of those under the age of 60, there is an interesting three-way divide.Fully one-third think old is being in your 70s, 26% believe old is in your 60s and 27% consider old as over 80. As age rises, so too does the perception of how old is old".

Second thing that I found striking was where people intended to spend their money on when retired... A nice looking future for the travel and airlines industry:

Interesting report, and the Nielsen website in itself is worth exploring once in a while.