Adapted from BMJ 3 Feb 2024
A study in Lancet Public Health has found that every year spent in a classroom improves life expectancy, while not attending is as deadly as smoking or heavy drinking.
Researchers from Norway and the USA examined data from 59 countries including Brazil, China, the UK, and the USA. They found that all cause adult mortality fee by 2% for every year in full time education.
Compared to no formal education, if you reached college or university level education, your total mortality fell by 34%. But not attending school was equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes a day or drinking 5 or more alcoholic drinks a day for ten years. The effects were similar in rich and poor countries regardless of sex, social class or demography.
Money is part of this effect. Education leads to higher lifetime earnings and that in turn improves housing and diet. It also helps you access and understand information that can guide you to make better life choices.
For women, higher educational levels reduce maternal and child deaths, better child health and lower fertility rates. Educated women tend to use contraception, marry later, have fewer children and be better informed about their children’s needs.
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