Here's how family's size affects kid's lifespan

Kids from a small family usually feel sorry for themselves for not having many siblings, but now a new study has given a reason not to romanticize a large family.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests that children born into smaller families in the world's poorest nations will live an expected three years longer than those born into larger ones.

The findings show that in families considered small (four or fewer children), the children have a life expectancy that is three years longer than the children in larger families (five or more children) even controlling for infant mortality.

Study leader Saifuddin Ahmed said that for 40 years, the slogan "a small family is a happy family" has been used to promote contraceptive use in developing countries, but their research shows that being born into a small family has health benefits that last throughout the course of your entire life.

Jose "Oying" Rimon, director of the Gates Institute, said that this finding is profound because life expectancy is like the motherhood of all indicators because it encompasses health, economic and social well-being.

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