The importance of education in improving life expectancy

Published

2 years ago

January 26, 2024

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By Neha Mathur Jan 26 2024 Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM

In a recent systematic review and meta-analysis published in The Lancet Public Health, researchers assessed the effect of education on all-cause mortality risk in adults on a global scale.

Study: Effects of education on adult mortality: a global systematic review and meta-analysis . Image Credit: Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock.com Background

There is a link between increased schooling and better health; however, studies have not estimated the magnitude of this relationship globally.

It is one of the most crucial health determinants, besides technological progress, access to quality healthcare, clean water and sanitation, and labor rights. Besides health, education drives socioeconomic empowerment across all genders.

Thus, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4.1 & 4.3, adopted in 2015, specifically ensure primary and secondary education for children and tertiary education for adults.

Education of adults, especially maternal education, has been shown to reduce mortality in children aged ≤5 by 3% and parental education by 1.6%. About the study

Researchers thoroughly searched seven databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus, to name a few, and identified all research publications assessing all-cause mortality as an outcome and years of schooling as an independent variable. They retrieved all papers from January 1, 1980 to June 16, 2023.

Two teams of reviewers then assessed these studies for individual-level data on education and mortality.

One person extracted data into a standard template derived from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD). Related StoriesSignificant link found between recent weight loss and increased cancer riskLow back pain? Theres good and bad newsNon-communicable diseases and external causes of death are major contributors to the risk of mortality in people with OCD

Next, they implemented mixed-effects meta-regression models to address between-study heterogeneity, adjusting for study-level covariates, including age, sex, and marital status, and reporting uncertainty in its estimation. They also generated funnel plots to assess publication or reporting bias. Results

This systematic review was the most comprehensive qualitative synthesis of articles with individual-level data, not restricted to any country or period; additionally, it exceeded the scale of previous research on educational attainment and mortality.

The authors identified 17,094 unique papers, of which 603 met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the analysis. These papers covered 10,355 observations from 59 countries.

The observed relationship of all-cause adult mortality with education was dose-dependent, with an average reduction in mortality risk of 1·9% per additional year of schooling.

On average, an adult with 12 years of schooling was at 24·5% lowered risk of mortality than an adult who never went to school.

This effect was greater in younger people than in older adults. Accordingly, the average reduction in mortality risk related to an additional year of education for adults aged 18–49 years and 70+ was 2.9% and 0.8%, respectively.

However, educational inequalities in mortality were persistent across the entire lifespan, and this pattern remained the same across birth cohorts and periods.

The protective effect of educational attainment on all-cause adult mortality by gender or Socio-demographic Index level did not vary; however, this observation requires further investigation.

On the other hand, the effects of education on mortality risk are comparable to other high-impact social determinants, underscoring the benefits of increased investment in education on future population health.

For example, the risk of all-cause mortality for an adult with no education compared with 18 years of education is similar to a person who currently smokes (5 pack-years) compared to a nonsmoker (RR ~1·52), underscoring the crucial importance of increased and equitable educational attainment as a global health goal. Conclusions

This study adds to the limited body of scientific work on inequitable adult all-cause mortality globally, further corroborating previous evidence that low education is a risk factor for adult mortality.

In this study, the protective effect of higher education on mortality was stable and did not weaken in economic contexts or with age, gender, and over time.

Thus, increasing years of schooling can help counteract growing disparities in adult mortality rates.

Continued investments in educational institutions worldwide are the need of the hour and should be viewed as investments in future public health. Journal reference:

IHME-CHAIN Collaborators*, Effects of education on adult mortality: a global systematic review and meta-analysis, Lancet Public Health, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/ S2468-2667(23)00306-7. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(23)00306-7/fulltext

Politics

Government takes first step in appealing court ruling banning asylum seekers from Epping hotel

Published

2 hours ago

August 22, 2025

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Government takes first step in appealing court ruling banning asylum seekers from Epping hotel

The government has taken the first step in appealing a court’s decision that asylum seekers cannot be housed in an Essex hotel.

The Home Office is seeking permission to intervene in the case, which, if granted, will allow it to appeal the interim judgment handed down last week.

Epping Forest District Council sought an interim High Court injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated at The Bell Hotel in Epping, which is owned by Somani Hotels Limited.

The interim injunction demanded the hotel be cleared of its occupants within 14 days.

In a ruling on Tuesday, Mr Justice Eyre granted the temporary block, but extended the time limit by which it must stop housing asylum seekers to 12 September.

Somani Hotels will now appeal against the court order blocking the use of the hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers, the company’s solicitors have said.

Meanwhile, security minister Dan Jarvis said on Friday that closing hotels housing asylum seekers must be done “in a managed and ordered way” as he unveiled government plans to challenge the High Court’s decision.

He told broadcasters: “This government will close all asylum hotels and we will clear up the mess that we inherited from the previous government.

“We’ve made a commitment that we will close all of the asylum hotels by the end of this parliament, but we need to do that in a managed and ordered way.

“And that’s why we’ll appeal this decision.”

An analysis by Sky News has found 18 other councils are also actively pursuing or considering similar legal challenges to block asylum hotels – including Labour-run Tamworth and Wirral.

Disquiet with the use of asylum hotels is at a high after the latest statistics showed there were more than 32,000 asylum seekers currently staying in hotels, marking a rise of 8% during Labour’s first year in office.

The number of small boat crossings in the Channel is also up 38% on the previous 12 months.

Following the Epping case, a wave of protests is expected outside of asylum hotels across the country in the coming days.

Stand Up To Racism is preparing to hold counter-protests outside the asylum hotels on Friday, including in Bournemouth, Cardiff and Leeds, with further demonstrations expected on Saturday.

In its case, Epping Forest District Council argued that the owners of the Bell Hotel did not have planning permission to use the premises to accommodate asylum seekers.

It argued that the injunction was needed amid “unprecedented levels of protest and disruption” in connection with the accommodation.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said the people of Epping who protested and its council have “led the way”, writing in The Telegraph that “our country’s patience has snapped”.

His Conservative colleague Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said on Thursday that people have “every right” to protest over asylum hotels in their areas.

Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, has urged councils to explore legal challenges – with Conservative-run Broxbourne Council announcing that it would do so.

Hillingdon Council, which is also controlled by the Tories, also said it was exploring its options.

Meanwhile, former Reform chairman Zia Yusuf told Sky News three councils run by his party had the power to mount legal challenges.

He said West Northamptonshire, which Reform seized control of in May’s local elections, would be doing so.

In a further headache for Sir Keir Starmer, Labour-controlled councils are also considering legal action, including Wirral and Tamworth.

Paula Basnett, the Labour leader of Wirral council, said: “We are actively considering all options available to us to ensure that any use of hotels or other premises in Wirral is lawful and does not ride roughshod over planning regulations or the wishes of our communities.”

Carol Dean, the Labour leader of Tamworth Borough Council, said she understood the “strong feelings” of residents about the use of a local hotel to house asylum seekers, and added: “We are closely monitoring developments and reviewing our legal position”.

Labour-controlled Stevenage council added: “The council takes breaches of planning control seriously and we’re actively investigating alleged breaches relating to the operation of hotels in Stevenage.”

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