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The higher someone's academic background and educational level, the longer they live, a recent study suggests.
In a paper published Tuesday, Kang Eun-jeong, an assistant fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, said analysis of the life expectancy of men and women in their 20s through 80s across the country shows that the higher their academic background, the longer they live.
According to the study, the remaining life expectancy of adults in their 30s who have not finished primary school is 43.8 years. That of middle school graduates is 46.6 years; that of high school graduates 49.2 years; and that of those with college or higher academic background 51.8 years. In all age groups, the academic background of those surveyed was roughly in proportion to their life expectancy. Subjects were aged between 25 and 85, spaced five years apart for the purpose of the survey.
It was based on a national life table and causes of death compiled by the National Statistical Office in 2005, and on the outcome of a national health and nutrition survey among 33,843 people from about 12,000 households across the country by the KIHSA the same year. The health and nutrition survey is an evaluation of people's dietary habits, lifestyle, and health.
Kang said, "There is a close correlation between people's academic background and their jobs and income, and it seems the higher their academic background is, the more attention they pay to preventing diseases and remaining in good health."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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