Nothing Except Typo

Possible Explanation for Wife's Age Gap from Her Husband

Marriage makes everyone better off. Earlier studies have shown that men with younger wives live longer. As for women, in the article Marriage and life expectancy, Silvia Leek, from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany, shows that

... the greater the age difference from the husband, the lower the wife’s life expectancy. This is the case irrespective of whether the woman is younger or older than her spouse.

The mortality risk of a husband who is seven to nine years older than his wife is reduced by eleven percent compared to couples where both partners are the same age. Conversely, a man dies earlier when he is younger than his spouse. ... (Previous researchers) assumed an effect called "health selection" was in play; those who select younger partners are able to do so because they are healthier and thus already have a higher life expectancy. It was also thought that a younger spouse has a positive psychological and social effect on an older partner and can be a better caretaker in old age, thereby helping to extend the partner’s life.

(From MPIDR website)

He also gives some primitive reasons

... women marrying a partner seven to nine years younger increase their mortality risk by 20 percent. Hence, "health selection" can’t be true for women; healthy women apparently don’t go chasing after younger men.

... unlike the benefits of a younger wife, a younger husband wouldn’t help extend the life of his older wife by taking care of her, going for a walk with her and enjoying late life together. She already has friends for that. The older man, however, doesn’t.

This means that women don’t benefit by having a younger partner ... couples with younger husbands violate social norms and thus suffer from social sanctions. Since marrying a younger husband deviates from what is regarded as normal, these couples could be regarded as outsiders and receive less social support. This could result in a less joyful and more stressful life, reduced health, and finally, increased mortality.

I have an alternative view.

Put aside all possible statistical errors first (based on two million Danish couples so the result could be reliable). Since marriage is a double-sided selection progress, the equilibrium state should be older husbands and younger wives as declared. So generally, women with older spouse are experiencing less life risk, based on evolution rules. This could explain this figure partially.

Then why marrying a man of the same age is the best choice? Currently I have no better reasons than this one. Women are more dependent than men. As the expected lifespan of male is shorter than female (right?), husbands may leave earlier and depress their wives with loneliness. So this is why husbands with greater age is beneficial for men themselves, but not for their lovely brides.

So based on the two factors, neither younger nor older husbands are the optimum for women. We could then fully explain the numbers.

Also, the pressure from social conventions could possibly count even more than my personal sayings. Data from places with different traditions could help us clarify this.