An average Briton believes that youth ends at 35 and old age begins at 58. In between - all 23 years - is middle age.

These are the findings of a new survey.

To reach the conclusions, academics from the University of Kent studied data from 40,000 people across Europe. They presented the findings to a meeting of the Economic and Social Research Council, in London, reports The Telegraph.

Professor Dominic Abrams said: "The survey showed that age prejudice - being treated as "too young" or "too old" - is perceived to be a serious or very serious issue by 63 per cent of respondents, so it is obviously important to know what these age labels mean to people."

Professor Abrams, a psychologist, added: "This evidence shows that what counts as young and old is very largely down to the age of the beholder." (ANI)