With the increasing housing prices and the need to take care of an ageing population, many young generations are living together with their parents, parents-in-law or grandparents (here forth, older generations). Previous research confirms the importance of intergenerational living arrangements (ILAs) for health, but it is still unclear whether ILA is beneficial or detrimental for one’s health.

Women live longer than men almost anywhere in the world. The question is whether this is due primarily to behavioural differences and social factors, or whether biological factors also play a role. To better understand the female survival advantage, Zarulli et al. (2018) investigated the survival of men and women in seven populations under extreme conditions due to famines, epidemics and slavery. They found that even when mortality was very high, women lived longer on average than men.

Handgrip strength is seen as a powerful predictor of mortality across individuals. However, there is no research evidence about the levels and predictive ability of grip strength for mortality in Russian populations compared to the predictive ability of grip strength of other European populations, e.g. in England and Denmark. In England life expectancy levels are close to the EU average, while grip strength levels are slightly above EU average. Denmark has a below-average life expectancy level across EU countries, but it is one of the countries with the highest grip strength scores.