Living in rural England linked to better memory performance

English field in spring - People aged 50 and over who live in rural England do better in memory tests than counterparts who live in English towns and cities, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, looked at the results of memory tests taken by two nationally representative population samples, whose participants were aged 50 and over, in England and China. The research team sought to find out if memory performance and memory decline over eight years could be linked to factors such as education, wealth and whether or not people lived in rural or urban areas, and whether these factors were different in the two countries. They found that in England, living in a rural area was linked to a significantly better performance in memory tests and that this link remained after taking into account the effects of education and wealth. In China, by contrast, living in a rural area was linked to much poorer memory performance as well as a steeper decline in memory (over an average of three years). The researchers suggested better access to outdoor green spaces might explain the advantage in memory tests among rural dwellers in England*, while in China, they noted that the rural population had less access to education and cultural engagement. Having less education and less household wealth, meanwhile, were associated with worse memory performance in both England and China, and in China, were also linked to a steeper decline in memory.