Young mums die early

Women who start a family early in life tend to die younger, according to one of the biggest studies of child birth and longevity in pre-industrial society.

A trawl through thousands of church records in Finland dating to the 17th and 18th centuries has found a strong correlation between the age at which a woman had her first child, the total number of children she had and the age at which she died.

The scientists behind the study believe the findings indicate that women who delay starting a family and have fewer children may have a natural tendency to live longer than women who become mothers at a relatively young age.

Men's lifespans, however, were unrelated to the age at which they had children.