An age-old advantage: Evidence for a consistent survival advantage for children of long-lived parents in Sweden 1880-2015

The average lifespan has increased strongly in the past decades, but not everyone has benefited equally. Establishing the degree of intergenerational persistence of survival generates insights into broad inequalities between individuals and families in their likelihood to live to high ages. Using established register-type data for a region in Southern Sweden 1880-2015, we show that even before the rise of the modern social gradient in health in the 1960ies, mortality is lower among descendants from long-lived parents (top survivors of their birth cohort). This shared survival advantage between parents and children persists over time even after considering SES. Mortality among the descendants of top survivors is lower in lifestyle-related causes of death, suggesting that behavioral factors could be a significant factor in explaining the survival advantage, but also. Overall, we find that mortality concentrates in families in patterns that go beyond the influence of SES alone. Similarities between relatives in health and mortality therefore provide an important lens into inequalities in survival and health over time.