In a new study published yesterday, researchers from the University of Colorado-Denver, New York University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill linked a lack of a high school diploma to over a hundred thousand deaths in 2010, a figure that is comparable to the annual number of deaths attributed to smoking.

This figure is "based on health risk associated with low education, which is a figure calculated through existing data on mortality rates for different levels of educational attainment. The data is adjusted to different populations and then multiplied by the population to get a number of deaths," according to The Washington Post. 

The data went back to 1925 and looked at over a million individuals to see what kind of an impact a low level of education has on mortality rates.

Past research has continuously linked riskier behaviors and an overall a low quality of life to lack of an education, and this study further indicates that losing out on education can literally be lethal.

"It's a complicated causal link, but [Patrick Krueger, co-author of the study] says the evidence is strong enough to say there is a strong inverse relationship between educational attainment and adult mortality. In general, that means a better education translates to higher quality of life," the article said.

"'It's pretty reasonable for everyone to get a high school degree... It wouldn't be reasonable for everyone to get a doctorate degree,'" he said, according to the article.

But the unfortunate truth is that in "the U.S., more than 10 percent of adults ages 25 to 34, don't have a high school diploma. And 28.5 percent have some college but no bachelor's degree," according to The Denver Post. 

"Improving education attainment could substantially improve survival in the U.S. population, especially given widening educational disparities, Krueger said. He predicts deaths attributable to poor education will continue to increase in the future," The Denver Post said.

Read more here and comment your thoughts in the comment section below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

07/08/2015