Life expectancy by sex and education level

There remain large gaps in life expectancy between women and men in all OECD countries. On average across OECD countries, life expectancy at birth for women was 83.1 years in 2015, compared with 77.9 years for men, a gap of 5.2 years (Figure 3.4). The gender gap in life expectancy increased substantially in many OECD countries during the 1970s and early 1980s to reach a peak of almost seven years in the mid-1980s, but it has narrowed since, reflecting higher gains in life expectancy among men than women. This can be attributed at least partly to narrowing of differences in risk-increasing behaviours such as smoking, accompanied by sharp reductions in mortality rates from circulatory diseases among men.

3.4. Life expectancy at birth by sex, 2015 (or nearest year)

Note: Countries are ranked in descending order of life expectancy for the whole population.

Source: OECD Health Statistics 2017.

 https://doi.org/10.1787/888933602291

In 2015, life expectancy for women in OECD countries ranged from less than 80 years in Hungary, Latvia and Mexico to more than 85 years in Japan, Spain, France, Korea and Switzerland. Life expectancy for men ranged from less than 75 years in Latvia, Mexico, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Estonia and Poland to over 80 years in Iceland, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Sweden, Italy, Israel and Spain.

Among OECD countries, the gender gap in life expectancy is relatively narrow in Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Ireland and Denmark (a gap of less than four years), but much larger in Latvia (around ten years) Estonia (around nine years), Poland (around eight years), the Slovak Republic and Hungary (around seven years). In this latter group of countries, gains in life expectancy of men over the past few decades have been much more modest than in other countries. For partner countries, the gender gap is also large in the Russian Federation, Lithuania and Colombia (seven years or more), and small in China (around three years).

Life expectancy in OECD countries varies by socio-economic status as measured, for instance, by education level (Figure 3.5). A higher education level not only provides the means to improve the socio-economic conditions in which people live and work, but may also promote the adoption of healthier lifestyles and facilitate access to appropriate health care.

3.5. Gap in life expectancy at age 30 between highest and lowest education level, by sex, 2015 (or nearest year)

Note: The figures show the gap in the expected years of life remaining at age 30 between adults with the highest level (“tertiary education”) and the lowest level (“below upper secondary education”) of education.

Source: Eurostat database complemented with OECD Statistics Directorate data and national data for Israel, Mexico and the Netherlands.

 https://doi.org/10.1787/888933602310

On average among 25 OECD countries for which recent data are available, people with the highest level of education can expect to live around six years longer than people with the lowest level of education at age 30 (53.4 versus 47.8 years). These differences in life expectancy by education level are particularly pronounced for men, with an average gap of seven years. Differences are especially pronounced in central and eastern European countries (Slovak Republic, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Latvia and the Czech Republic), where the life expectancy gap between higher and lower educated men is more than ten years. This is largely explained by older people in these countries having lower levels of education, and the greater prevalence of risk factors among men, such as tobacco and alcohol use. In other countries such as Turkey, Sweden and Canada, inequalities are less pronounced. Differences in lifespan between people with low and high education have been estimated to account for about 10% of overall inequalities in ages at death (Murtin et al., 2017).