A new report by The Newspaper Society throws the spotlight on sweeping changes in the lifestyles of people in the UK.

Key findings in the report, called Lifestage, are:

• the increase in older people becoming parents
• the increase in the number of 35-54 year olds – by 2020, half the UK population will be aged over 45
• more people living alone – a 25% increase over the last 10 years
• smaller households
• later marriages
• early retirement
• second families, and second, third and fourth marriages

The Lifestage report puts a big question mark over the value of age as a marketing planning tool, which means advertisers, agencies and media owners have to look at imaginative ways to reach their target audiences.

Mike Jeanes, research manager at the Newspaper Society, said: “Classifying consumers by age is no longer as relevant as it was 10 or 15 years ago. If you look around your average shopping centre, it’s not unusual to see parents in their 40s or even 50s with young children.

“Our progression through life is far less predictable with couples like Tony and Cherie Blair having children in their late forties. Segmenting markets by lifestage is a simple concept, which could help overcome some of the problems associated with pigeonholing consumers into specific age groups or classes, ” he said.

If Mothercare, for example, used age bands to define their target audience, Tony and Cherie Blair (aged 47 and 45 respectively) would probably slip through the net. The Lifestage report classifies consumers according to their particular circumstances at that particular time, rather than how old they are, says the Newspaper Society. In the case of Mothercare this would mean “adults with pre-school age children” which would widen the net to other potential customers such as the Blairs.

“Lifestage can help define patterns of behaviour and media consumption in different stages of life, which in turn can help advertisers and agencies to tailor their creative design, messages and media mix,” explained Mr Jeanes.

The Newspaper Society represents more than 1,300 daily and weekly, paid-for and free, newspaper titles in the UK.