MARRIAGE IS HEALTHY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 195, 7 November 1927, Page 14

MARRIAGE IS HEALTHY

SAYS ENGLISH ACTUARY “SINGLE WOMEN DIE YOUNG" A remarkable fact revealed in a report by the Government actuary, Sir Alfred W. Watson, on the expectation of life as shown by statistics, is that the death rate is increasing for single women between the ages of 18 and 27. The report is based on the population as returned in the 1921 census and on the average number of deaths recorded in the three years 1920, 1921 and 1922. From this it appears that a boy born now may expect to live for 55.62 years and a girl for 59.58 years. This shows a very great improvement in recent*years. In 1906 a boy’s expectation of life was only 48.53 years, and a girl’s 52.38, while in 1911 the figures were 51.50 and 55.35 respectively. Between the ages of 30 to 60 the vitality of both sexes is shown to have increased very considerably. It is only in the case of young single women between 18 and 27 that deterioration is experienced. Married women between the same ages are healthier than ever. The rates of mortality for widows are invariably heavier than those for single women or wives. Dancing and Cinemas Dr. Ethel Browning said to a reporter: “Probably the increased rates of mortality among young unmarried women are due to the fact that so many more of them are now doing really hard work and closely confined in offices. At night, instead of getting fresh air, they go to dances or spend their time in cinemas, with a continuation of the same evil tendencies.”