For nearly a century in the US and other developed countries, women have outnumbered men – and in the US, the gap is only growing. Some examples of this inequality in the developed world are listed below:
- In France, the average life expectancy for women is 85.5 years, compared to 79.4 for men.
- Life expectancy for women in Taiwan averages 84.4 years, compared to 77.8 for men.
- The US has a widening gap, with life expectancy for men falling to 73.2 years after the pandemic compared to 79.1 for women, making it the largest age gap since 1996.
There are a number of factors that could contribute to why women have a longer life expectancy than men, from differences in behavioral patterns to lower female infant mortality rates.
This article discusses why men have higher mortality rates at all ages, as well as the ways in which wealth and education minimize this gap, which shows how access to quality health care, higher awareness of mental health and better food can directly contribute to longevity.
Boys have higher infant mortality rates than girls
The difference in mortality rates begins from birth. Newborn boys are significantly more likely to be born prematurely as well as higher mortality rates in the first week of life compared to newborn girls, and this gap remains largely the same as they move through infancy.
This is partly chromosomal. females have two X chromosomes and males have one X and one Y chromosome and have two X chromosomes make it less likely for some genetic conditions such as hemophilia to be expressed. Besides, Male infants are more prone to infectious diseasesand infectious diseases tend to be more severe in male infants than female infants, possibly because of less developed immune systems.
Young men die at higher rates than women
After baby boys grow into teenagers and young adults, they stay more sensitive to “external” causes of death such as violence, accidents, poisonings, suicides and poisonings. As demonstrated by international data collected by Our World In Data, overall death rates from ages 15-25 are much higher overall for young men than their female peers, and it also persists past 25.
This could possibly be attributed to increase in testosterone as young men go through puberty as well as a difference in societal expectations for young men and women; Teenage boys have long had higher accident rateswhich is reflected in insurance rates for young men under 25 compared to their female peers. For example, male teenage drivers between the ages 16-19 in the US are three times more likely to die while driving than women.
Some studies have linked higher accident-related death rates among young men to higher rates risky behavior. Part of this disparity may be cultural. In many Western (and Eastern) societies, risk-taking behavior is considered “masculine” and encouraged more in boys (think “boys will be boys”), while Girls are asked to be more careful of a range of potential risks.
Inequality persists into old age
The gender gap in life expectancy is equally stark among the elderly. Death rates begin uprising significantly in the last third of life due to a range of natural causes including cancers, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, autoimmune diseases and infections. Men tend to have higher rates of fatal diseases of the conditions mentioned above, and are also twice as likely to die from cardiovascular diseasewhich accounts for a significant number of deaths for the elderly population in general.
Some of these differences can be explained by gender differences in behaviors that play a key role in longevity and overall health, such as drug use, smoking and alcohol use.
Occupational risks are also higher in menas there are far more men doing manual work and these jobs tend to have higher risks of injury or death on the job. Since there are more men in the military, ice trucking, and construction (all of which have higher than average work-related death rates), they are more exposed to occupational hazards.
The gap is widening
In countries like the US, women are increasingly living longer than men. As we noted above, the general trends of women living longer than men in developed countries can be related to differences in behaviors such as drinking and smoking habits, drug use, risk-taking behaviors, and occupational choice.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also shown some interesting facts. men get sickon average, when contracting COVID, particularly in younger populations. While women still live longer than men in the same socioeconomic group, wealthier, more educated men are rapidly closing the gap in life expectancy compared to women with less access to resources, which highlights the ways in which proper diet, education and lifestyle affect longevity.
