Marriage increases life expectancy
Married male and female Australians live longer than life long single people, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics data on age specific death rates in Australia, per thousand, per age group.
These clearly show that married people have lower death rates than non married people in almost all age groups, for both men and women.
Data analysed by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing shows the difference between single and married people starts in the 40s and grows sharply in the 60s.
The real spike appears in the 70-84 group, with the death rate for single people almost double than married men and women.
For men, the difference evens out after age 85, while married women over the age of 80 continue to have a greater survival rate, than single women in the same group.
However, widowed males over 85 have the highest rate of death per 1,000, showing that once their life partner dies, they often follow. It is 191.6 per thousand, compared to 140.3 per thousand for married men in the same age group.
Overseas studies have provided similar results on marriage and ageing, and the link with longevity has been debated for more than 100 years.
Historically, one main explanation has been put forward. It is that marriage reduces the risk of an earlier death as a person is less likely to participate in risky behaviour and more likely to nurture or “guardian” each other’s health through promoting good diet and physical care.
