Good-looking people have all the luck.

A new study has sparked discussions about the potential link between physical attractiveness and lifespan. According to research published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, individuals considered less attractive might have shorter lifespans compared to their more attractive counterparts.

The study, conducted by researchers from Arizona State University and the University of Texas at Austin, analyzed data from a long-term project tracking more than 8,300 Wisconsin high school students starting in 1957 and continuing to 2022.

The comprehensive study not only documented health data throughout the participants’ lives but also included assessments of their appearances based on high school yearbook photos.

Independent evaluators were asked to rate the photographs, categorizing the participants’ attractiveness into six groups. When the researchers compared these ratings to mortality data from the National Death Index, they discovered that those rated in the least attractive group were 16.8 percent more likely to have died by the end of the study period than individuals in the middle groups.

Interestingly, there was no significant difference in the mortality rates between the middle groups and the most attractive group.

The study’s authors, Connor Sheehan and Daniel Hamermesh, noted, “Little is known about the association between facial attractiveness and longevity. But attractiveness may convey underlying health, and it systematically structures critical social stratification processes.”

“Broadly, we found that those whose facial attractiveness was rated in the least attractive sextile had a higher mortality risk throughout life compared to those rated average or high,” the study authors write.