The life expectancy of men and women varies. In Europe, the gap is closing while it is widening in the US. However, it also exists in non-human species. For what reason is that the case?

Look around your typical retirement community or circle of older friends, and you’ll see a noticeable sex disparity. Among those 85 and older, men are uncommon. The statistics confirm the common belief that they pass away earlier than women.

For instance, in Germany in 2022, the average life expectancy for men was a little over 78 years, and the average life expectancy for women was 82.8 years.

In the United States, the average life expectancy for men and women in 2021 was a little over 73 years and 79 years, respectively. Since 1996, the 5.8-year difference has been the greatest.

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According to a recent study by US experts, the growing disparity results from outside influences, primarily the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the authors of the research, which was published in November 2023 in the JAMA Journal of Internal Medicine, men in the US were disproportionately afflicted by the epidemic, resulting in a decline in their average life expectancy.

The “deaths of despair” – lives taken by suicide, drug addiction, or violent crime, for example — are the other leading causes of men’s shorter life expectancy.

The study’s lead author, Brandon Yan, stated, “While rates of death from drug overdose and homicide have climbed for both men and women, it is clear that men constitute an increasingly disproportionate share of these deaths.”

Dangerous Jobs, Heart Disease Also Reasons for Men’s Earlier Deaths

The difference in life expectancy between men and women has other reasons.

Rheumatologist and senior faculty editor at Harvard Health Publishing Robert H. Shmerling enumerate the statistics showing that males are generally more inclined than women to forego routine health examinations and that men outnumber women in hazardous occupations like warfare or firefighting.

Men commit suicide at a higher rate than women, a point also made by Shmerling. The stigma that is still associated with mental health treatment in many cultures, particularly for men, maybe one explanation for this.

According to the medical expert, heart disease is another significant cause. In the US, males are 50% more likely than women to pass away from heart disease.

In Europe, Men Fare Better

Outside of the US, one reason the difference in life expectancy between the sexes is closing is the decrease in male cardiovascular disease.

The mortality gap between the sexes has shrunk, according to a group of academics from Germany’s Federal Institute for Population Research who looked at life expectancy by sex in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Slovakia, and Switzerland.

The findings indicate that reductions in the gender disparity in life expectancy “were mostly driven by a reduction of male excess mortality from cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms,” as they were published in the European Journal of Public Health in July 2023.

Malignant neoplasms are malignancies, while benign neoplasms are tumors.

The mortality disparity shrank in the seven research countries between 1996 and 2019.

This was mainly because fewer males were suffering from heart disease in most of the world. In France, a decline in male cancer rates was a significant factor in the closing gender death disparity.

But it’s not all good news. The Czech Republic has seen a decline in the gender gap in life expectancy, as fewer men are passing away from lung cancer while the disease is taking more lives among women.

Courtship, Mating Behavior Responsible for Shorter Life of Male Mammals

There are other creatures outside humans whose life spans differ significantly between the sexes.

A multinational team of experts revealed in March 2020 that female mammals outlived men in the wild. The work was released in the National Academy of Sciences Proceedings.

The median life span of females in the 101 species the scientists examined was 18.6% longer than that of males. In contrast, that percentage is 7.8% for humans.

Bighorn sheep were one species where this was clearly evident. However, the woolly mammal study also demonstrated to the researchers that variations in life expectancy only happen during difficult times. Male sheep don’t die much sooner than female sheep when living conditions are good and there’s adequate food for everyone.

However, female bighorn sheep are more resilient when things don’t seem so good, partly because they have more energy to spend on grazing.

Contrarily, it’s believed that men devote a lot of energy to developing their muscles or engaging in sexual competitiveness. Therefore, aggression appears to shorten life expectancy in males of all species, including humans.

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