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Multilingualism Halves Cognitive Aging Risk, Study Finds

11/13/2025

Summary

Story summary

A Nature Aging study shows multilingualism significantly slows cognitive aging.
The analysis covered more than 86,000 participants aged 51 to 90 across 27 European countries.
Multilingual individuals are half as likely to experience accelerated biological aging as monolinguals.
The protective effect increases with each additional language, and co-author Agustín Ibañez notes multilingualism enhances cognitive reserve and social connectedness, supporting overall health and advocating language learning as a strategy.

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Story summary

A Nature Aging study shows multilingualism significantly slows cognitive aging.
The analysis covered more than 86,000 participants aged 51 to 90 across 27 European countries.
Multilingual individuals are half as likely to experience accelerated biological aging as monolinguals.
The protective effect increases with each additional language, and co-author Agustín Ibañez notes multilingualism enhances cognitive reserve and social connectedness, supporting overall health and advocating language learning as a strategy.