U.S. women are now projected to live about six years longer than U.S. men, as COVID-19 and drug overdoses claim more male than female lives, according to research published Nov. 13 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Overall U.S. life expectancy has declined in recent years and, as of the latest estimate, sits at around 76 years. But as the new research details, women are expected to live significantly longer than men. As of 2021, the latest year with federal data available, life expectancy among U.S. men was 73.5 years, compared to 79.3 years among women.
Across the world, women tend to live longer than men for a variety of reasons, some biological—such as hormonal differences—and some behavioral. Women tend to visit doctors more frequently and are less likely to smoke and drink excessively, for example. That’s been true in the U.S. for a long time. But the 2021 data represent the largest gender-based life expectancy gap in the U.S. since 1996.
The gulf began to widen before the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors note, but the trend accelerated from 2019 to 2021. Deaths from COVID-19 and unintentional injuries, a category that includes accidental drug overdoses, were the largest contributors to the widening of the gap, but differential rates of homicide, heart disease, and suicide deaths also played a role, according to the report. It’s well-established that men die of these causes more frequently than women, and in recent years, they have been some of the most common causes of death overall. Heart disease, COVID-19, and unintentional injuries accounted for three of the top five in 2021.
The gender gap would have been even wider, the authors note, but for factors including increases in maternal mortality and decreases in cancer deaths among men.
Overall, the data underscore the continued importance of limiting COVID-19’s spread, and of finding better ways to improve national mental health and prevent drug overdoses and suicides—fatalities sometimes labeled by experts as “deaths of despair.”
FAQs
Older age death rates tend to be higher among men than women
When did women start living longer than men? ›
Starting around 1890, however, a permanent female advantage emerged. The gap grew throughout most of the 20th century (except for a brief decline due to the 1918 flu pandemic), reaching a peak of over 7 years in the 1970s. The gap has since narrowed to less than 5 years.
Why is male life expectancy lower than female? ›
Men have a higher prevalence of lethal diseases, which is linked to their lower life expectancy. Women have more non-lethal conditions such as depression and arthritis; which may also be linked in part to longer survival.
Do women in the United States live longer than men but suffer? ›
The seven conditions with higher DALY rates in women than in men were lower back pain, depression, headaches, anxiety, musculoskeletal disorders, dementia, and HIV.
Do women live longer than men because of periods? ›
Women tend to be more iron deficient due to menstruation. High levels of iron encourages the formation of free radicals and an increased cancer risk. So this may also explain why women generally live longer than men.
What causes females to live longer than males? ›
On average, women visit the doctor earlier and more often than men, generally drink less alcohol, use less tobacco and pay more attention to a healthy diet [Griswold et al. 2018, Oksuzyan et al. 2014]. Life expectancy statistics also include suicide, which is significantly more common in men than in women [Kiely et al.
Which gender is the strongest? ›
While men are stronger when it comes to muscle strength, women are more powerful when it comes to endurance training.
Who lives longer, married or single? ›
Married men and married women live, on average, two years longer than their unmarried counterparts. One reason for this longevity benefit is the influence of marital partners on healthy behaviors. Study after study shows that married people eat better and are less likely to smoke and drink excessively.
Who dies first, husband or wife? ›
Another theory suggests that because in three out of four marriages the husband dies first, 39 most adults lose their fathers by death before their mothers.
What body type lives the longest? ›
Even though BMI remains the go-to measurement of body health, research suggests that paying attention to waist measurements may be more accurate. Specifically, research into WHR points to why pear-shaped people tend to live longer than apple-shaped people, even if their overall weights and heights are comparable.
Researchers also discovered that "shorter, smaller bodies have lower death rates and fewer diet-related chronic diseases, especially past middle age." The lifespans of shorter people appear to be longer than their taller counterparts, the paper says.
What are the odds of living to 90? ›
At the end of the study, about 16% of the men and about 34% of the women survived to the age of 90. In fact, the authors found women who were taller than 5 feet 9 inches were 31% more likely to reach 90, compared to those who were under 5 feet 3 inches.
Do women survive longer without food? ›
Female survival advantage
For example, the analysis showed that during the Irish potato famine, women typically lived, on average, 22.4 years, while men lived, on average, 18.7 years. (In the years before the famine, the life expectancy for both sexes was about 38 years, according to the findings.)
Which gender is better at survival? ›
The ages at which the relative difference is highest vary. Almost all populations show a relative female survival advantage across all ages, with the exception of Liberia and Trinidad.
Why is Russian life expectancy so low? ›
The biggest factor contributing to this relatively low life expectancy for males is a high mortality rate among working-age males from preventable causes (e.g., alcohol poisoning, stress, smoking, traffic accidents, violent crimes).
Did men ever live longer than women? ›
It's well known that women live longer than men do, but this wasn't always the case: A new study finds that differences between men and women's life expectancies began to emerge in the late 1800s. For the study, researchers analyzed information from people born between 1800 and 1935 in 13 developed countries.
Do women live 7 years longer than men? ›
In fact, 57% of all those ages 65 and older are female. By age 85, 67% are women. The average lifespan is about 5 years longer for women than men in the U.S., and about 7 years longer worldwide.
