Politics IS good for your health: Not voting in elections dramatically raises risk of early death, researchers discover

People who don't vote are significantly more likely to die earlier than their voting peers—with experts suggesting voting behaviour is a stronger determinant of health than education.

Over the past decade, industry experts and policy programmes have increasingly highlighted the relevance of voting as a social determinant of health—the non-medical factors that influence health and wellbeing.

Previous research has even found that people who vote in elections tend to enjoy better health than non-voters, but until now it has been unclear if voting could predict future mortality risk.

Now, experts have found that not voting dramatically increases the risk of all cause mortality, by 73 per cent among men and 63 per cent among women.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, the researchers concluded: 'Information on voting may be useful in clinical settings—for example, abandonment of voting habits may be an early signal of significant health decline—and in monitoring population wellbeing, health and health disparities.'

In the study, BMJ researchers looked at electoral data from the 1999 Finnish election for citizens living in mainland Finland and aged 30 and older.

In total, 3,185,573 people were included in the study, which tracked survival rates from 21 March 1999—election day—to the end of 2020 or death, whichever came first.

Over the course of the study, just over 1million people died; 955,723 from existing underlying causes.

After adjusting for education level, the risk of death decreased slightly to 64 per cent and 59 per cent heightened risk among men and women respectively.

However, the researchers noted that the difference in risk of death between voters and non-voters was greater than that between people with a very basic education and those who had completed a higher level.

The difference was strongest among men under 50 and in younger age groups men who didn't vote had a higher risk of death than women who dates, up until the age of 75 where the opposite was true.

And among men with the lowest household income, the risk of death associated with not voting was up to 12 per cent higher than it was for other income demographics.

However, because the study was observational, the researchers stressed that this does not prove cause and effect.

They added: 'Health problems and related difficulties may also negatively affect many important prerequisites of participation, including enhancing resources, motivation to vote and political mobilisation.'

But because voting was a stronger determinant than education level, they concluded: 'Voting is a valuable complementing factor in the social determinants of health research.

'Voting, as a form of participation, is a type of social capital, which is linked to health benefits. Voting may increase other forms of civic participation

'Additionally, a strong association between voting and mortality raises concerns about equal political representation.

'As a corollary, narrowing inequalities in length of life can increase the equality of democratic representation.'

It comes as earlier this year dozens of areas in England and Wales were flagged as premature death hotspots.

According to Daily Mail analysis, Blackpool South has the highest premature mortality rate, with nearly 730 deaths per 100,000 men living there before the age of 75 in 2024 alone.

Although that rate may seem small, it was 2.5 times higher than Richmond upon Thames, where adults had the best chances of avoiding an early grave, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Premature deaths may happen from illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, injuries, violence and even suicide.

Daniel Ayoubkhani, head of the ONS health research group, said: 'This analysis shows a clear association between where you live and your risk of dying prematurely.

'When accounting for differences in age and sex, we see that there are substantial differences in premature mortality rates across local authorities in England and Wales.'