Life expectancy by sex

Bertrand Desjardins, a researcher in the demography department of the University of Montreal, explains. Men dying sooner than women makes sense biologically: because males are born for every females, it would assure that there are about the same number of men and women at reproductive ages. But even though women showed a longer life expectancy in almost every human society in the last decade of the 20th century, the size of the advantage varied greatly. For example, in the U. The discrepancy was much greater in some countries, with the difference in Russia reaching more than 12 years, but in others, such as India 0.

As a result of falling age-specific mortality, life expectancy rose dramatically in the United States over the past century. Final data for the most recent available show that life expectancy at birth for the total population has reached an all-time American high level, Record-high life expectancies were found for white females Life expectancy gaps between males and females and between whites and blacks persisted.

Women generally live longer than males — on average by six to eight years. This difference is partly due to an inherent biological advantage for the female, but it also reflects behavioural differences between men and women. However, in some settings, notably in parts of Asia, these advantages are overridden by gender-based discrimination so that female life expectancy at birth is lower than or equal to that of males.

Studies using the sensitive periods framework typically examine the effects of early life exposures on later life health, due to the significant growth and development occurring during the first few years of life. The menopausal transition i. Results indicated a significant inverse association between mortality at ages 45—49, the average age range in which perimenopause occurred, and life expectancy at age 60 among females in all three countries. Health development and health trajectories are the consequence of various biological and social factors operating throughout the life span, according to life course epidemiology Kuh et al. Certain windows of time, however, represent critical or sensitive periods, during which environmental stimuli or threats can have particularly enduring effects on health and development Cameron and Demerath