Statistic
RR 0.88
Married people die at lower rates — and it doesn't vary by gender
A meta-analysis of 250,000+ people found married people had a mortality relative risk of 0.88 versus the unmarried — a benefit that "did not vary by gender". So "men are healthier single" is the opposite of what the outcome data show.
This figure comes from our fact-check: Is marriage a bad deal for men?
The number
Pooling more than 250,000 people, married individuals had a mortality relative risk of 0.88 versus the unmarried — they died at lower rates — and the effect "did not vary by gender". [1]
the overall relative risk (RR) for married versus non-married individuals … was 0.88 (95% Confidence Interval: 0.85-0.91)
What it does and doesn't establish
Part of the gap is selection (healthier men are more likely to marry), and divorce carries real financial risk. But on the measurable outcome — how long people live — married men do better, not worse, which is the reverse of "marriage is a bad deal for men". Full context: is marriage a bad deal for men?
Sources
1 source · all archived at publication
- [1]Marital status and mortality in the elderly: a systematic review and meta-analysis · Social Science & Medicine · 2007-01-01 archived ↗
Evidence last checked: 2026-07-28
Cite this page
The Fieldnote Desk. (2026). Married people die at lower rates — and it doesn't vary by gender. manospherecult.com. https://manospherecult.com/research/statistics/marriage-and-mortality
By The Fieldnote Desk · How we verify · Corrections