Education can lower the risk of death and save life regardless of age, sex, location, and social and demographic backgrounds, according to the largest study of its kind published in The Lancet Public Health. Researchers have known that those who reach higher levels of schooling live longer than others, but they didn’t know to what extent until now.

The new study showed that the risk of death drops by two per cent with every additional year of education. That means those who completed six years of primary school had a lower risk of death by an average of 13 per cent. After graduating from secondary school, the risk of dying was cut by nearly 25 per cent, and 18 years of education lowered the risk by 34 per cent.