(Bloomberg) --
Married people tend to live longer.
The age adjusted death rate for married Americans aged 25 and over declined a statistically significant 7% between 2010 and 2017, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Compared with those who are single, divorced, or widowed, married persons have much lower mortality rates. The age-adjusted death rate among the married was 779.6 per 100,000 compared to 1,368.8 for divorced Americans, 1,443.6 for those who never married and 1,656.9 for the widowed.
The reasons can be attributed to marriage selectivity and lifestyles. Healthier people are more likely to marry in general and once wed, they often take fewer risks, eat better diets, and keep regular medical appointments.
The age-adjusted death rates for married women aged 25 and over were the lowest of all marital status groups and significantly lower than those of men. The rate for never-married women dropped 3% between 2010 and 2017, while the rate for divorced women was little changed between 2010 and 2017. While widowed men experienced the highest age-adjusted mortality at 2,239 per 100,000, the rate stayed flat; but the death rate for widowed women grew 5% from 2010 to 1,482.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Tanzi in Washington at atanzi@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sarah McGregor at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net, Anita Sharpe
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