Multilingualism and aging: Country-level patterns may not support individual-level causal claims

Abstract

A recent study reports that people living in European countries with high multilingualism show healthier brain aging than those who live in more monolingual environments. We argue that the study design conflates living in countries where multilingualism is relatively more common with participating in transnational professional networks. The six-year life expectancy gap between high- and low-multilingualism countries provides an alternative explanation regarding observed differences in cognitive aging better than language experience itself. The findings describe interesting geographic patterns but may not support claims that multilingualism causes healthier aging.