Male life expectancy in Europe is still trailing behind female.
European men are falling further behind women in terms of life expectancy, says a major new report. The gap isn’t as pronounced in the UK as other countries, but men still haven’t seen the same boost in life expectancy as women.
Although people are living longer than ever before, men have seen less improvement and are a “generation behind” women, say the report authors.
The study, by the World health Organisation (WHO), says men have not yet seen the average rise in years that women saw in the 1980s. The average gap between the sexes is 7.5 years.
Countries with the widest difference between men and women include Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Those with the smallest gap were Iceland, Israel, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands.
As of 2010, women in Europe can expect to live for an average of 80 years, while men average 72.5 years. The WHO experts, who looked at data from nine million people in 53 countries, say lifestyle and occupational differences “largely explain this gap”.
For European adults the leading health risks are tobacco and harmful alcohol abuse. The biggest killer is cardiovascular disease, just ahead of cancer.
Prof Alan White, chairman of the Men’s Health Forum and professor of men’s health at Leeds Metropolitan University, told the BBC, “Men are not programmed to die young. Although the survival gap between men and women has always been present it does not have to be so wide.”