# Multi-stage living · Consumer Trends 2027 · Zorraquino
> Life paths are becoming less rigid. The new longevity is changing how society sees time, life stages and future horizons.
URL: https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/multi-stage-living

![Two older women talk and hold hands in a café.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0w1142l8/production/1c7bde19d81b202bcb741e7317708123cc44c7f5-2400x1352.webp/two-older-women-talk-and-hold-hands-in-a-cafe.webp?w=1600&q=85&auto=format&fit=max)

Social trend 04

# Multi-stage living

1. [Consumer Trends 2027Home](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027)
2. [Trend 01Value of imperfection](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/value-of-imperfection)
3. [Trend 02Meal snackification](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/meal-snackification)
4. [Trend 03Skill economy](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/skill-economy)
5. [Trend 04Perpetual engagement](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/perpetual-engagement)
6. [Trend 05Infinite collecting](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/infinite-collecting)
7. [Trend 06Agentic robotics](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/agentic-robotics)
8. [Trend 07Ancestral remix](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/ancestral-remix)
9. [Trend 08Luxury survivalism](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/luxury-survivalism)
10. [Trend 09Business beyond death](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/business-beyond-death)
11. [Trend 10Fleeting megalomania](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/fleeting-megalomania)
12. [Social trend 01Post-ownership living](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/post-ownership-living)
13. [Social trend 02Intentional tech](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/intentional-tech)
14. [Social trend 03Adaptive belonging](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/adaptive-belonging)
15. [Social trend 04Multi-stage living](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/multi-stage-living)
16. [Social trend 05Climate by default](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/climate-by-default)

Multi-stage living

Life paths are becoming less rigid. The new longevity is changing how society sees time, life stages and future horizons.

Trend axes

- Life stage fluidity
- Ageless aspirations
- Longevity revolution
- Continuous reinvention

Some figures

+84

Years: life expectancy at birth in Spain exceeded this for the first time in 2025, according to the National Statistics Institute, which also recorded the lowest number of births in over 80 years.

13%

Growth in boomers’ income over the last two years, compared with 6% for under-35s; for the first time in history, retirees earn more than young people, according to the Bank of Spain.

1/6

By 2050, 1 in 6 people will be over 65, compared with 1 in 10 today, according to the United Nations.

+44,000

People over 65 enrolled in university programmes for older adults at 50 universities, according to the Spanish State Association of University Programs for Older Adults.

## Life without stages

The life model based on successive, predictable stages is losing ground. The traditional sequence is giving way to longer, fragmented and reversible paths, where milestones shift , repeat or are reinvented. This change responds to a convergence of demographic, technological and cultural factors that are reshaping the relationship between age, activity and life plans.

The steady rise in life expectancy, together with progressively better health in later life, widens the window in which people can remain active. Digitalisation and access to lifelong learning have also lowered the barriers to acquiring new skills at any point in life for groups traditionally excluded from them.

This transformation is reflected in consumption. Chronological age is losing relevance as a segmentation criterion compared with variables such as lifestyle, motivation or functional ability. The result is offerings designed for heterogeneous audiences, from financial services that allow for irregular income to leisure, tourism and wellness offerings aimed at an active and diverse older population.

Yet the trend goes beyond the market. The reorganisation of life paths raises challenges for public policy, social protection systems and labour frameworks that still operate on the logic of a life model that is no longer the norm.

## Cases

01 / 08

## Age takes a back seat

When milestones no longer shape the life course, age loses its role as an axis of social classification and no longer precisely defines expectations, abilities or aspirations. Instead, a less stable scenario emerges, in which identities are constantly reshaped and life unfolds as a series of iterations.

This forces a rethink of deeply rooted frameworks. Designing services, products or policies for age-defined groups is increasingly ineffective in a context where anyone can start a professional, educational or personal project at any time.

Extending active life thus broadens the time horizon, but changes our relationship with key decisions: risk is spread over time, learning is no longer concentrated in an initial phase and saving adapts to less predictable paths.

In this scenario, the narrative linking longevity with fulfillment can oversimplify a reality marked by inequalities in health, resources and support networks. Added to this is a limited institutional capacity to anticipate these changes: transformations affecting later life tend to yield delayed political returns, which slows down the adaptation of protection systems.

Moreover, the generations now reaching later life have different expectations. Better educated and more aware of their wellbeing, they aspire to ways of living that go beyond functional independence. They want environments that bring together health, relationships and purpose and that, above all, see longevity not as a residual phase but as a time of full development.

Zorraquino spotlights

1. 01  
Age is no longer a reliable operational category, forcing a rethink of marketing strategies and of entire education, work and social protection systems built around traditional timelines.
2. 02  
A longer lifespan does not automatically mean greater freedom; it redistributes uncertainty across the course of life: more opportunities to start over, but also more exposure to decisions without clear frameworks.
3. 03  
As life shifts towards non-linear paths, the notion of stability moves towards the capacity for sustained adaptation in changing contexts.
4. 04  
The market is moving faster than institutions, creating flexible solutions for complex lives while public systems remain anchored in sequential models.
5. 05  
The narrative of active longevity risks hiding new inequalities between those who can make the most of the extra time and those trapped on more fragile paths.
6. 06  
Extended longevity fragments the future, dissolving the idea of a single horizon and forcing us to live with multiple possible futures within a single life.

Zorraquino playlist

- When I’m Sixty FourThe Beatles · 1967
- ViejovenOjete Calor · 2017
- Forever YoungAlphaville · 1984

[See the whole playlist](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/playlist)[Listen on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/16F0xiupype1stR6dvDcfH)

## More on the trend

### References

- [La esperanza de vida en España supera por primera vez los 84 años](https://elpais.com/sociedad/2025-11-19/la-esperanza-de-vida-en-espana-supera-por-primera-vez-los-84-anos.html)
- [La renta de los recién jubilados supera a la de los jóvenes por primera vez en la historia](https://www.abc.es/economia/cuentas-corrientes/renta-recien-jubilados-supera-jovenes-primera-vez-20260502020545-nt.html)
- [Ageing](https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/ageing)
- [La universidad para mayores triunfa en España: ya hay más de 44.000 alumnos y se dispara la lista de espera](https://www.eldebate.com/educacion/20260331/universidad-mayores-triunfa-espana-hay-44000-alumnos-dispara-lista-espera-cns%5F401954.html)
- [La nueva longevidad ya es un hecho: la era del envejecimiento en positivo se descifra en el congreso LongevitIA](https://www.lavanguardia.com/vivo/longevity/20260602/11554224/nueva-longevidad-hecho-envejecimiento-positivo-descifra-congreso-longevitia.html)
- [¿Quieres vivir más y, sobre todo, mejor? Este experto te explica qué es “la nueva longevidad”](https://efesalud.com/nueva-longevidad-que-es-entrevista-experto-diego-bernardini/)
- [La ‘receta’ social, una medida urgente en la era de la nueva longevidad](https://theconversation.com/la-receta-social-una-medida-urgente-en-la-era-de-la-nueva-longevidad-270234)
- [College students can ‘call a boomer’ from a new phone booth on Comm. Ave. Here’s the idea behind it.](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/11/metro/call-a-boomer-hotline-boston/)
- [@ramona\_gorraiz](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaVKmhZsiuH/)
- [ASISA lanza “Bienvejecer”, un movimiento para ayudar a vivir plenamente vidas más largas](https://www.asisa.es/noticias-salud/2025-10-15-asisa-lanza-campana-publicitaria-bienvejecer)
- [Streaming, das auf den demenzkranken Geist ausgerichtet ist](https://mentatv.com/de/why-menta)
- [Linie Null](https://www.rvbw.ch/fahrplane/linienull/)
- [WE DIDN’T FIND YOUR HAPPY PLACE, WE BUILT IT.](https://www.celebritycruises.com/xcel)
- [The new creative class? Amsterdam agency recruits 70-somethings to tackle client briefs](https://www.trendwatching.com/innovations/amsterdam-agency-tosti-recruits-70-somethings-to-tackle-client-briefs)
- [Ageism Stops With You Media Campaign](https://www.nyc.gov/site/dfta/news-reports/anti-ageism-campaign.page)
- [Cloria Beloeil Rethinks Retirement Living Through Modern Interior Design](https://d5mag.com/cloria-beloeil-rethinks-retirement-living-through-modern-interior-design/)
- [More to Me: Why Whiddon is Challenging the Way Australia Sees Ageing](https://www.whiddon.com.au/yourlife/more-to-me-whiddon-challenging-australia-ageing/)
- [Centre for Ageing Better’s Year 3 Campaign Launch](https://www.kcl.ac.uk/centre-for-ageing-betters-year-3-campaign-launch)
- [Aspercreme® and Danny Trejo Launch “KO Boomer” Campaign to Challenge Ageist Stereotypes](https://finance.yahoo.com/healthcare/articles/aspercreme-danny-trejo-launch-ko-130000679.html)
- [Age shouldn’t be a risk](https://www.axa.com/en/about-us/age-shouldn-t-be-a-risk)

Pages 115–140 of the report

[![A climate demonstration on a tree-lined street with banners and placards.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0w1142l8/production/a8a29e9fed4810c4160ef4e27ad71d1322f50c8c-2400x1348.webp/a-climate-demonstration-on-a-tree-lined-street-with-banners-and-placards.webp?w=1600&q=85&auto=format&fit=max)](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/climate-by-default)

Next trend · Social trend 05

[Climate by default](https://www.zorraquino.com/en/trends/consumer-trends-2027/climate-by-default)