People with greater income or formal education tend to live longer and enjoy better health. The trend holds true wherever researchers look — in poor countries or rich ones, in Europe, Asia or the Americas — but two notable exceptions stand out.
People with greater income or formal education tend to live longer and enjoy better health. The trend holds true wherever researchers look — in poor countries or rich ones, in Europe, Asia or the Americas — but two notable exceptions stand out.
- Immigrants to countries as diverse as the U.S., Australia, Germany and Canada live longer than their new native-born neighbors even though they tend to be less well educated and more likely to live in poverty in those countries.
- People of Hispanic descent (typically of Spanish, Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, or Central or South American origin) live longer than non-Hispanic whites, who on average happen to be richer and better educated
What accounts for the two exceptions? Smoking.
Source: Scientific American