Historically, women have outlived men, but changing lifestyles may gradually help men catch up, according to a report published by New Scientist referencing the journal Plos One. Globally, human life expectancy has increased over the past century, a trend expected to continue with the growing wealth of countries. Despite this increase, disparities between the life expectancies of men and women have persisted.
In this context, David Atanas del Olmo, a researcher from the University of Alcalá in Spain, and his colleagues analyzed mortality data from 194 countries between 1990 and 2010. These countries can generally be divided into five groups based on their longevity trends. The group with the highest life expectancy includes high-income countries like Australia, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and parts of Western Europe. The group with the lowest life expectancy consisted only of Rwanda and Uganda.
When comparing the lifespans of men and women in these countries, the most significant increase was seen in men from Rwanda and Uganda, whose life expectancy was only 30.85 years in 1990, rising by 14.37 years to 45.22 years by 2010. For women in these countries, life expectancy increased by only 0.94 years during this period, from 50.37 years to 51.31 years.
In the group with the highest life expectancy, the average gap was 4.84 years in favor of women in 1990, which slightly decreased to 4.77 years in 2010. Researchers predict that this gap will continue to narrow, reaching 3.4 years by 2030. The research team observed similar trends in the other three country groups.
Although the researchers analyzed data only up to 2010, they expect these similar trends to persist to the present day, with the acknowledgment that COVID-19 may have affected overall life expectancy, particularly for men. Del Olmo states that in recent decades, both men and women have benefited from advancements in healthcare and increased awareness of diseases like AIDS. He notes that smoking-related deaths, which disproportionately affect men, have also decreased, potentially aiding in reducing the life expectancy gap between genders.
Brandon Yang from the University of California, San Francisco says, "This study aligns with epidemiological trends indicating an increase in global life expectancy and a narrowing of the gender gap over time."
