As a demographer, I spend my days counting babies, migrants and retirees. 

But the real job is not counting people, it’s working out where they are on life’s journey and what they are likely to do next.

Age isn’t just a number, it’s one of the strongest predictors of what we buy, where we live, how we vote, what we worry about and what gives our lives meaning.

Understanding the stage someone has reached helps us understand how that person is likely to behave.

Understanding life stages benefits almost everyone making decisions about people.

Businesses can better anticipate what consumers buy and what workers need – governments can plan schools, housing, transport, healthcare and aged care – educators and employers can tailor support to changing capabilities and motivations – and families and individuals can better prepare for the transitions ahead.

In short, life-stage thinking helps institutions respond to people as they are, rather than treating the population as one uniform mass. 

There are many ways to define life stages. Today we will use the version from educator Thomas Armstrong, who argues that every stage of life has its own unique gift – something to look forward to when entering a new stage.

Instead of seeing ageing as a slow decline, he sees life as a sequence of distinct chapters, each contributing something valuable to society. 

Alongside Armstrong’s 12 stages, we will consider the much simpler model used by Franciscan writer Richard Rohr.

Rohr divides life into just two halves. The first is about building your life. The second is about understanding why you built it in the first place. 

Demographers are very good at measuring the first half. We can tell you when Australians finish school, leave home, marry, have children and retire. The second half is much harder to measure.  

Let’s start with a look at Armstrong’s 12 stages of life and the gifts that lies hidden within each stage. The ages listed here are only meant as a rough guide as circumstances vary widely. 

Where do you fit in right now and what’s still ahead? 

1. Pre-birth: The gift of potential 

Before birth, a life is pure possibility. Armstrong’s point is not that every unborn child will become famous, but that each could become almost anything.

For a demographer, falling fertility therefore means more than fewer babies – it means fewer possibilities, fewer workers, carers, creators and citizens in the Australia of tomorrow.  

2. Birth: The gift of hope 

A newborn brings optimism to parents and carers – the hope that this new life will contribute something fresh and........

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