Regardless of age, sex, geography, or social and demographic backgrounds, education can reduce mortality and save lives, according to the largest study of its type that was published in The Lancet Public Health.Although the degree to which people who attain greater levels of education live longer than others has long been recognized, researchers were unaware of this until recently.

According to a recent study, for every extra year of schooling, there is a two percent decrease in the risk of death. This indicates that there was an average 13% decreased risk of death for individuals who finished their six years of basic school.

The risk of dying was reduced by over 25% after completing secondary school, and by 34% after 18 years of schooling.

Researchers also found similar health outcomes when they compared the effects of education to other risk factors like smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and eating a balanced diet.

For instance, the advantages of having eighteen years of education are comparable to those of eating the right amount of veggies rather than none at all.

Attending no school at all is just as unhealthy as consuming five or more alcoholic beverages daily or ten cigarettes a day for a decade.

“We can now quantify the magnitude of this benefit, which is a significant development,” stated Dr. Terje Andreas Eikemo, head of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) Center for Global Health Inequalities Research (CHAIN), “Education is important in its own right, not just for its benefits on health.”

Although youth benefit most from education, the protective advantages of education continue to help adults beyond 50 and even 70 years of age.

Researchers discovered no discernible variation in the effects of schooling across nations with varying levels of development. This indicates that the benefits of longer schooling are similar in wealthy and developing nations.

The analysis comprised more than 10,000 data points gathered from more than 600 published articles and included data from 59 different countries. The majority of the studies that were examined for this analysis came from high-income environments, which emphasizes the need for additional research in low- and middle-income nations, especially in sub-Saharan and north African regions where there is a dearth of data.