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Correspondence

Nature 399, 522 (10 June 1999) | doi:10.1038/21059

Longevity — does family size matter?

Toon Ligtenberg1 & Henk Brand1

  1. Department of Oral Biology, Academic Centre for Dentistry, van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
R. G. J. Westendorp2,3T. B. L. Kirkwood3
  1. Section of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Department of General Internal Medicine, and Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Centre CO-P, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands
  2. Biological Gerontology Group, Department of Geriatric Medicine and The School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, 3.239 Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK

Rudi Westendorp and Thomas Kirkwood1 conclude that women who live longer have fewer children. This can be ascribed almost entirely to an increase in the proportion of childless women in higher age groups.