Rich siblings ‘likely to outlive poorer brothers and sisters’

BEING wealthier than your brother or sister in your 40s means you are more likely to outlive them, a US study has found.

Scientists and doctors have been aware of a link between money and health for a while, but it has been hard to separate the financial link from that of environmental and genetic factors.

A team of researchers from Northwestern University in Illinois studied families, including fraternal and identical twins as well as siblings of different ages.

They studied the health and wealth of more than 5,000 people over 24 years and found that if there was a $50,000 (£36,000) gap in the net worth of two siblings then the richest person is five per cent more likely to live longer.

This was repeated for every $50,000 increase in net worth, so someone who is $250,000 richer than their sibling is 25 per cent more likely to outlive them.

The study is unable to conclusively say that increased wealth is behind a greater life expectancy, but the design of the study indicates this may be the case.

Dr Eric Finegood, the lead author of the study, said as the research looked at family members who were broadly similar except for their wealth “it provides strong evidence” of a link between money and lifespan. Prof Greg Miller,

‘Building wealth is important for health, even after accounting for where one starts out in life’

the senior author of the study, said: “Our results suggest that building wealth is important for health at the individual level, even after accounting for where one starts out in life.

“So, from a public health perspective, policies that support and protect individuals’ ability to achieve financial security are needed.”

The results were published on the JAMA Health Forum.