Protesters march in Berlin to mark International Women's Day on Wednesday. Equality in education has the strongest link to longevity "Many of the factors that determine how long you will live — like working and living conditions, exposure to pollution, access to health care, education, income, and social support — are layered with gender differences around the world," Pinho-Gomes explains. They also say it's possible that the associations they observed between gender equality and life expectancy could be explained by other factors, like socioeconomic development and sociocultural norms