LAUSR

People are living longer and functioning better than at the same age in prior decades, and those aged 60 years and older are often assumed to have similar levels of health and functioning to each other. This study analyzed health and social data from the 2016 Survey of Population Change and Well-being in the Context of Aging Society using the characteristics approach. This method determines variation in the speed of cognitive ageing - assessed through a measurement integrating memory and numeracy, in relation to education levels. A higher education was found to be statistically significantly associated with better cognitive ageing. Great disparities existed in cognitive functioning between those with a below-primary level of education and those with higher education levels. Men tended to have higher scores than women in cognitive function at 60 years of age, but women had a much slower trajectory of cognitive decline associated with ageing. The characteristics approach provides a quantitative perspective on how social gradients can affect people at older ages.