Page 23 - IJPS-7-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Gender gap in life expectancy in South and East Europe

The research of Luy (2004) on Bavarian communities in The study by Trovato and Heyen (2006) found a
Germany estimated that around 80% of the sex difference narrowing gender gap in LEAB in the late 1990s for
in LEAB in general population was indeed a gender the populations of six countries that belong to the
difference, with earlier mortality for males. In 2003, a G7 group countries: Italy, France, Canada, Germany,
mortality analysis for the period 1890 to 1995 was carried United Kingdom, and the United States. Accordingly, the
out by Marc Luy to address the question to which degree continuation of this trend was considered a prominent
biological factors provide explanation to the existence characteristic of the epidemiological shape of the countries
of the extensive differences in LEAB by sex. Luy (2004) with high income. The basic measure for this analysis
made a comparison of the data on mortality of more than was the central age-specific death rate. The analyses of
11.000 Catholic nuns and monks in Bavarian communities this research show the role of age pattern of change in the
which have had very similar living situations in terms of contribution of five large age groups to the change LEAB in
their behavior and surrounding with the life table data of the late 1990s as well as in the period when the gender gap
the German’s general population. Therefore, as stated by reached the highest levels. In addition, the study found that
Luy (2004), the higher differences noted in the general the contribution of age groups under 35 was negligible.
population in Germany could not be ascribed to biological In the early and mid-2000s, the gender differences
factors but to some other explanations, such as the risk in LEAB begun to decline in West Europe and flattened
gained by the social roles, environmental conditions, off among several countries in South Europe and
and behavior. In addition, variations in the gender gap the United States, even though it continues to rise in
in longevity across time and countries may be the first Japan (Crimmins et al., 2016; Glei & Horiuchi, 2007).
indication that the same ones cannot be explained as a As stated by Glei and Horiuchi (2007), both causes of
purely biological phenomenon (Schünemann et al., 2016). death, behavioral and medical factors contributed to the
The widening gap in LEAB by gender was occurring with narrowing of the gender gap in mortality rates and as a
the considerable rises in the sex ratio of age-specific death result of that the narrowing of the gender differences in
rates (Glei & Horiuchi, 2007). Accordingly, these rises LEAB. These factors include increased smoking among
are generally associated with gender differences in trends females and decreased prevalence among males and the
of behavioral and social risk factors such as smoking, progress in medical treatments for cardiovascular disease
abundant drinking, violence, and occupational dangers that may have greater benefit for males than females
(Glei & Horiuchi, 2007). (Crimmins et al., 2016; Glei & Horiuchi, 2007). There was
The gender gap, which implies that females are in a more considerable debate about whether gender is best viewed
favorable position than males when it comes to LEAB, was as an instrument for behavioral and lifestyle issues, or as
first noticed in developed countries in the 20 century, a proxy for an unobserved acquired survival advantage
th
but during the 21 century, it was basically a universal (Sickles & Taubman, 1997). The US and international
st
phenomenon (Barford et al., 2006; United Nations, 2022a). empirical data strongly suggest that human LEAB varies
This outstanding achievement that females in all places of by gender. In the United States, the disparity in LEAB
the world can likely to happen to have longer lives than between males and females remained fairly constant over
males became certain. the last several decades of the 20 century in spite of the
th
In human history, all over Europe, females’ LEAB has conventional view that the male survival disadvantage is
been always greater than males’ LEAB from recorded data associated with behavioral patterns modified through
available, for example, Sweden since 1751, Denmark since public education and even with the considerable boost
1835, and England and Wales since 1841 (Barford et al., in female labor force participation rates, as well as female
2006; Luy, 2004). It is also important to emphasize that in adoption of dominantly male lifestyle behaviors such as
West Europe and North America, the LEAB gaps between smoking (Crimmins et al., 2016; Crimmins et al., 2019;
females and males have begun to narrow since the 1980s Sickles & Taubman, 1997).
(Glei & Horiuchi, 2007). Throughout the last century, both Research has pointed out that health improvements
males’ and females’ LEABs were with a stable growth with are not omnipresent and that the changed patterns, to
exceptions for World War II, but the gender difference in some extent, are regarded as being caused by the phase
LEAB has widened considerably in favor of females in most of the epidemiologic transition in a specific country (Gu
of the second half of the century. Similar to many other et al., 2009; Mercer, 2018; Omran, 2005). In terms of a
countries of the world, the gender gap in LEAB continued concept, epidemiological transition theory focuses on
to persist among East European countries during the the compound change in patterns of health and disease
1970s and the late 1980s with a lesser scale among South as well as the interactions between these patterns and
European countries and Ireland (Glei & Horiuchi, 2007). their demographic, economic, and societal factors and

Volume 7 Issue 2 (2021) 17 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v7i2.389