Friends and company: what the research says about long life
Suppose you could pick one habit from the five in the Harvard study, or add company to your week. Which would help you live longer?
Researchers have measured the second one. In 2010, Julianne Holt-Lunstad and her colleagues combined 148 studies covering 308,849 people. The average age was about 64, and people were followed for an average of 7.5 years.
People with stronger social relationships had a 50% greater likelihood of survival. Most of the studies began with people who were healthy.
How relationships were measured changed the result. A simple yes or no, such as living alone, went with the smallest effect. A fuller measure of how connected someone was went with the largest.
In 2015 the same group combined 70 studies covering 3,407,134 people, followed for an average of 7 years. After adjusting for other factors, the likelihood of death was higher for each measure.
Social connection and survival in two reviews
| Measure | Studies | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Stronger relationships (2010) | 148 | 50% greater likelihood of survival |
| Fuller measures of connection (2010) | part of 148 | 91% greater likelihood of survival |
| Living alone as a yes or no (2010) | part of 148 | 19% greater likelihood of survival |
| Social isolation (2015) | 70 | 29% higher likelihood of death |
| Reported loneliness (2015) | 70 | 26% higher likelihood of death |
| Living alone (2015) | 70 | 32% higher likelihood of death |
These studies watched people over time. They cannot prove that connection causes longer life.
What happens to company when someone moves abroad? A 2025 study in Psychology and Aging surveyed 4,995 Dutch retirees living abroad and 1,338 who stayed in the Netherlands.
The retirees abroad were socially lonelier. That means they had a smaller circle and less sense of community. They were not emotionally lonelier, which means they were not short of a close friend or partner.
This was true even though the retirees abroad were, on average, healthier and better off. Those two things usually go with less loneliness.
Contact with home mattered. Retirees who had lost touch with good friends and family back home were lonelier in both ways. Those with more contact with neighbors and a stronger sense of belonging in the new country were less socially lonely.
The authors say older retirees abroad face two risks at once, one from age and one from moving. They suggest thinking about social support before a move.
This links to the blue zone habits in another article: belonging, and choosing the right circle of people. The reviews above put numbers on belonging: stronger ties went with longer survival.
Who do you see in a normal week, and who would you see after a move? Tell us in the comments. Someone may be planning the same move.
Sources we read
Holt-Lunstad, Smith and Layton, Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review, PLOS Medicine, 2010. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000316
Scientific American, Social ties boost survival by 50 percent (complex measures, 91%). https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/relationships-boost-survival/
Holt-Lunstad and others, Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2015. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691614568352
Savas, Henkens and Kalmijn, Trouble in paradise? Emotional and social loneliness among international retirement migrants, Psychology and Aging, 2025. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/pag-pag0000880.pdf
ScienceDaily, Retiring abroad puts older adults at risk for loneliness, March 2025. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/03/250313130302.htm
News-Medical, Moving abroad for retirement may increase loneliness for older adults. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250313/Moving-abroad-for-retirement-may-increase-loneliness-for-older-adults.aspx
Tell us in the comments