Men more likely to outlive women if they marry and go to university, study finds

Married men live longer than single women, study suggests (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Married men or men who have a university degree are more likely to outlive women who are single and have not completed higher education, a new study suggests.

Historically, research has found that women have longer survival and lower death rates than men. As of 2019, the average difference in life expectancy between the sexes was 4.4 years worldwide.

But experts at the University of Southern Denmark believe these findings have led to a “blind interpretation” of life expectancy differences.

Researchers analysed data on people from 199 countries spanning 200 years and found that men have a “substantial chance” of outliving women.

“Not all females outlive males, even if a majority do. But the minority that do not is not small,” the study, published in the British Medical Journal, said.

Researchers found that lifespans were impacted by a “complex combination” of biological, environmental and behavioral factors, including marital status, income, and education.

Men who have a lower education level or who are unmarried have a particularly” low chance of outliving a woman, experts said.

However, a man who is both married and has a university degree has a higher chance of outliving a woman, in particular a woman who is single and has not completed higher education.

Across all the populations analysed, between 25-50 per cent of men have outlived women.

Explaining the findings, researchers said it is likely a result of the fact that coupled individuals influence each other’s health.

This is especially true in men, who benefit more than females from being in a stable relationship, the study said.

Experts concluded that the research could help better identify characteristics of men who die earlier.

“These findings challenge the general impression that men do not live as long as women and reveal a more nuanced inequality in lifespans between females and males,” the study said.