Lorraine Williamson
In Spain, people are living longer, working later, and staying active well into their seventies. Yet for many, the feeling of becoming invisible arrives long before retirement. Wrinkles and grey hair are not just signs of time, but markers of how society decides who still belongs at the centre and who is gradually moved to the edges.
Age discrimination in Spain affects more than 70% of people over 55, a contradiction in a country where life expectancy is among the highest in the world and the retirement age is set to rise to 67 by 2027.
This quiet exclusion is not always loud or hostile. It lives in lowered expectations, patronising language, and the assumption that growing older means stepping back from public life. Many people describe feeling as though they must apologise for visible age, as if natural signs of living were a failure to stay young.
A generation that refuses to disappear
Today’s older adults are not the same as those of previous generations. They are caring for grandchildren, supporting older parents, working past traditional retirement age, or even starting new careers. What once was called “old age” now often looks like a second adulthood. The idea that “50 is the new 40” hides a deeper truth: older people have changed, but stereotypes have not.
Yet the data from the Barómetro de Edadismo, part of the Hablando en Plata initiative, shows a painful reality. More than 70% of respondents have experienced age discrimination. For women, that figure rises even higher. They face a double barrier — judged not only on capability, but on appearance. Grey hair, slower movement, lines around the eyes — all treated as something to hide rather than marks of a life fully lived.
Longer working lives, shorter opportunities
Spain is asking people to work longer. By 2027, the official retirement age will reach 67. Many are already working past that age by necessity or choice. Yet the workplace is the setting where age discrimination hits hardest. Of those over 55 who looked for a job in the past year, 84% say their age was used against them. Older women report even higher rates.
Inside companies, the shift is subtle but clear. One in four employees over 55 feel they are no longer taken seriously by colleagues or managers. Their long experience is often seen as outdated rather than valuable. It is a paradox at the heart of Spanish society — people are needed to work longer, but not always wanted once they do.
Technology and the new divide
Ageism is not only happening in offices or during job interviews. It now exists online, in the digital forms needed to make a doctor’s appointment, apply for permits, or manage finances. While 77% of people over 55 use digital tools, nearly half feel insecure when online, and more than 40% say they have felt discriminated against in dealings with public institutions. The move towards a paperless society risks creating a new kind of barrier — not built of laws, but of login screens.
Language that shrinks lives
The most powerful form of ageism is often the quietest — found in words. Sociologists warn that terms like “abuelito” or “cariño”, while affectionate, can reduce an adult to something childlike. It places the speaker above and the older person below. It is the kind of language that suggests protection rather than equality — a soft voice that still silences.
The weight of being underestimated
Repeated exclusion settles into the mind. Four in ten people who have experienced ageism report stress, frustration, or depression. Many begin to self-censor — choosing not to apply for jobs, avoiding public debates, or withdrawing from social activities. A quarter admit they stay away from situations because they feel they are “too old” to belong there. Ageism is not only something done to people — it becomes something they do to themselves.
Spain´s ageing crisis
Shifting the story of age
Yet across Spain, there are signs of resistance. Community groups, cultural centres, and foundations such as La Caixa are creating spaces where older people can learn, speak, and lead. Workshops held across more than 600 centres this autumn will address unconscious bias, digital inclusion, and the right to remain visible.
Spain’s Secretary of State for Social Rights, María Rosa Martínez, summed it up simply: living longer is not enough. Dignity cannot depend on hair dye or a birth date. Aging is not a failure to stay young — it is a success of modern life.
A future where experience is not an apology
Age discrimination in Spain is not just a statistical issue. It is a cultural question — who do we choose to hear, and who do we quietly set aside? As Spain prepares for a future where one in three citizens will be over 65 by 2050, the answer matters.
People are living longer, contributing longer, and dreaming longer. They should not have to erase the years from their face to earn respect. Wrinkles are not a problem to be solved. They are proof of time lived, battles faced, stories carried. To age is not to fade. It is to belong, fully, without apology.