Does Multilingualism Shape Aging Equally Across Populations?

Multilingualism has emerged as a complex sociocognitive and behavioral trait with potential implications for cognitive resilience, functional capacity, and healthy aging. Recent large-scale European studies suggest that multilingual exposure is associated with more favorable biobehavioral aging profiles when cognitive, functional, and cardiometabolic domains are jointly considered. However, the interpretation and generalization of these findings require careful contextualization. In many regions of the Global South, particularly in Africa and Latin America, multilingual experiences are frequently shaped by different historical, sociocultural, and structural contexts than those commonly described in European cohorts. In many African and Latin American settings, multilingualism is deeply embedded in everyday life and may emerge from linguistic diversity, migration, colonial histories, minority language use, and local sociocultural practices. In these contexts, language use may reflect social stratification, structural inequality, or survival strategies rather than cognitive enrichment. Emerging concepts such as "stressful multilingualism" highlight that, under conditions of marginalization, multilingual exposure may coexist with psychosocial stress and adverse aging pathways. Additionally, ancestry, population admixture, and sociocultural dynamics intersect with language practices and independently influence aging trajectories, raising concerns about residual confounding in current models. While national-level indicators enable broad comparisons, they obscure substantial within-country heterogeneity. We argue that multilingualism should not be treated as a universally protective or modifiable factor without accounting for social context. Future research should prioritize underrepresented regions, incorporate individual-level measures of language experience, and integrate structural determinants such as inequality, discrimination, and cultural identity. Such approaches are essential to clarify the mechanisms linking multilingualism to aging and to ensure globally relevant and equitable interpretations.