“Men can certainly live longer than women, especially if they are married or have a college degree.” | Sciences

Scientists began working with data from 199 countries on all continents over nearly two centuries. The Danish researchers concluded that “while men have a generally lower life expectancy than women, and mortality rates for men tend to be higher at all ages, men have a significant chance of living longer than women.” They found that between 25 and 50 percent of the men lived longer than the women. “Men who are married or have college degrees tend to live longer than women who are unmarried or without high school diplomas,” the authors said.

The chance of men living longer than women became smaller and smaller in developed countries until the 1970s, after which the chance increased again in the entire population. Life expectancy variability is mainly attributed to differences in human behaviour, such as smoking. Scientists argue that a “distorted view of true differences” in lifespans could arise from a “blind interpretation of differences in life expectancy.” “These results refute the prevailing impression that men do not live as long as women and reveal a more subtle difference in age between women and men,” she added. Academics suggest that a better measure would be to examine the longevity of both sexes in different countries.

The study was published in the famous British Medical Journal.