Researchers at Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven have studied the issue of "equality in relation to death."

According to the research, discrepancies in the health status of the wealthy and poor populations eloquently confirm the well-known truth that “it's better to be wealthy and healthy”: the life expectancy of the poor is 6.6 years shorter for women and 9.1 years for men, Interfax reports citing a story in Soir newspaper.

In particular, the researchers compared the personal data of all the Belgians added to the national population register from 1991 to 2016, examining the results of censuses of 1991, 2001 and 2011 and the death certificate archive.

They claimed to have found “stunning differences between social groups”.

In other words, the publication says, people who are in a better socio-economic position, have received a higher level of education and have better housing live longer - often by a decade - than those on the other end of the social scale.