Gender Gap in Life Expectancy. Time Trends and Geographical Differences

France Meslé , Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Jacques Vallin, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

The gender gap in life expectancy has undergone significant changes over time in low-mortality countries. During the first three quarters of the 20th century, the female advantage in life expectancy steadily increased before stabilizing and subsequently decreasing since the 1970s-1980s. Beyond biological factors, the gap in favor of women is primarily attributed to behavioral differences between the two sexes. On another side, when examining sub-national variations in the gender gap, large differences can be observed. For example, in France, the larger the gender gap between males and females, the lower the life expectancy at birth. Previous research has revealed that this apparent paradox (a positive correlation between the level of life expectancy and the width of the gender gap when considering temporal trends, but a negative correlation when examining geographical differences) can be explained by the involvement of different causes of death. The submitted paper aims to provide updated results in the context of the reduction of the mortality gap over time. Has the paradox disappeared? What can be observed at older ages? Using subnational databases linked to the Human Mortality Database (HMD), the analysis will be extended to other countries (USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, Germany) and different age groups.

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 Presented in Session P2. Health, Mortality, Ageing - Aperitivo