The pensioners with more friends than twentysomethings

TODAY’S pensioners have more friends and lead more active lifestyles than people in their 20s, according to a study.

Research suggests those in their first year of retirement feel like they have a new lease of life, and are more likely to do daily exercise than young adults.

Pensioners of all ages are also more likely than 20- somethings to have more than ten close friends.

The study found that 94 per cent of those in their first year of retirement had a youthful outlook, saying they ‘didn’t feel like a pensioner’.

On average, people in their 20s and firstyear retirees said they exercised three or four times a week. But the pensioners were more likely to be fitness fanatics, with 17 per cent being active every day compared to just 12 per cent of the younger generation.

The research, by savings and investment firm Standard Life, found that pensioners of all ages gave the youth a run for their money when it came to socialising.

On average they had five or six close friends – the same number as people in their 20s. But while just 10 per cent of 20- somethings had more than ten close friends, 12 per cent of retirees did.

Eighty-nine per cent of pensioners said they caught up with friends at least once a month, narrowly behind the younger group on 96 per cent.

The survey of 3,004 adults, both retired and working, found pensioners kept their diaries packed with activities.

In a typical week they went out with friends or their partner to social events twice, while 75 per cent ate in a restaurant at least once a week.

The research also found that online dating is not just a young person’s game, with one in eight pensioners saying they had met up with someone from the internet for romance or friendship.

Meanwhile two- thirds of retirees said they enjoyed alcohol, with the average drinker doing so three or four times a week. For drinkers in their 20s, the typical frequency was just twice a week.

More than half of the pensioners surveyed said travelling was the best thing about retirement, while 48 per cent relished time spent with family and friends.

Julie Hutchison, of Standard Life, said: ‘Retirement can be one of the most liberating and exciting life stages, so why shouldn’t pensioners enjoy every moment of it?’