A recent Swedish study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community, has found men who's partners only have a school education have a 25% greater risk of dying than a man whos partner has a university education. Perhaps strangely, a man's level of education doesn't affect his lifespan as much as his partner's.

The study included data of 1.5 million working Swedes aged between 30 and 59 years old.

For women, it isn't a man's education that effects the lifespan of a woman but rather his income and social status.

The researchers behind the study believe that because traditionally women take more active responsibility for the home than men do, perhaps a women's level of education might affect the food that is eaten as well as the level of care that is taken for family health.