Scientists have discovered that there may be some truth in the old clich about being old and wise. They have found that that children with higher IQs are more likely to live longer.
Nobody is sure why more intelligent people are likely to live longer.
However, it is thought that factors such as childhood diet and economic status probably play a role. They then followed up to see who was still alive in 1997. It was found that both men and women with higher IQ scores as children were much more likely to be alive 60 years later. The researchers took an average IQ in the group as 100. Those still living at the age of 76 had an average IQ score of 102 at the age of 11, while those who had died by 1997 had an average score of 97.7.