Finally, the secret of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s 50-year marriage can be revealed: they got the numbers right.

Newman was five years older than Woodward, a differential which gets a big tick from researchers at the Geneva School of Business who have come up with a formula for the perfect union.

After analysing 1074 couples aged 19 to 75, the researchers concluded that the wife should be five years younger than her husband. The partners should be from the same cultural background and the woman should be more intelligent than her spouse.

Wife Better Educated Gets Tick

How much more intelligent? The wife should be at least 27 per cent brighter than her husband and should hold a degree, while he should not. Perhaps unsurprisingly, marrying a divorcee reduced the chance of wedded bliss.

”If people follow these guidelines in choosing their partners they can increase their chances of a happy, long marriage by up to 20 per cent,” said Nguyen Vi Cao, whose study was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald and is published in the European Journal of Operational Research.

Five Year Differential

Paul Newman was a divorcee (no tick there) and it would be rude to speculate if his wife was smarter than him. But the magic five-year differential can also be observed in the long-lasting marriages of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and Australian Prime Minister John and Janette Howard.

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About the author

Jenny W
First career as newspaper and magazine journalist with daily newspapers and magazines, then as an editor who successfully launched a new national Sunday newspaper and NZ House & Garden magazine. First woman editor of NZ Listener. Enjoying a second career as a business owner and entrepreneur, health products marketer, social media habitué, blogger and web marketer. Still learning and loving it.