Life expectancy Women live and suffer longer

Women live longer, but are also affected by illness for a longer time

04/20/2012

On average women living in Germany achieve a higher life expectancy than men. However, it is also crucial how many years women enjoy good or acceptable health. Age depression and physical ailments particularly affect women at an older age, which somewhat reduces the prospects of a long life overall.

Live longer with diseases
On average women are older than men in Germany, but can they be happy about that? This question must be asked because, according to an evaluation of the statistics agency "Eurostat" for European Union (EU) countries, especially women in Germany have to deal with sometimes serious illnesses in old age. On the basis of the data analysis, it can be seen that EU residents live on average after reaching the 65th birthday for about 21 years. Men still have a life expectancy of around 17 after reaching the age of 65. Including the "healthy years of life", men and women have an almost equal "healthy life expectancy" in relative years. Women over the age of 65 years are still 8.8 healthy years ahead, in men it is still 8.7 years. Conversely, this implies that, on the whole, women spend more years with mental or physical illnesses than men.

Women in Sweden live healthiest for the longest
In Sweden, women live the longest in healthy terms compared to other European countries. A Swede who reaches the age of 65 today can expect another 15 years of good health. The statistics are followed by the countries Luxembourg and Denmark. Here, the citizens live on average for another 12 years without suffering. On the other hand, the prospects in Slovakia are very bad. Pensioners in this EU country have only 2.8 healthy years ahead of them.

Germany is below average
Although Germany is one of the most developed industrial nations and has relatively good health care, Germany is not doing well compared to other EU countries in terms of healthy life expectancy. The European average is 8.8 healthy years. At over 1.7 years, Germany is less than 7.1 years old. Although men in Germany have a slightly higher life expectancy compared to the EU, the healthy years show a below-average value of 6.9 years, calculated from the age of 65. In the EU comparison, the average is around 8.7 years.

Men can also look forward to longer health in Sweden. About 14 years of good health awaits a now 65-year-old Scandinavian. The statistics are followed by male citizens in Denmark and Malta. There, the inhabitants can look forward to more than 12 years. The prospects for Slovaks are also very poor: Here men enjoy only over 3.3 years of good health.

Life expectancy and healthy years without context
It is noticeable that the healthy years of life are not in context with the general life expectancy. Because not in Sweden, people are the oldest, but in Spain. There women and men have the longest life expectancy compared to the other EU states. Women have the least chance of a long life in Romania and Bulgaria. Men live significantly shorter in the Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia.

Life expectancy of a newborn
According to a survey by the World Health Organization WHO in Germany, the general life expectancy of a child born today is 79.9 years. Women live well 5 years longer than men. In a world-wide comparison, people in Japan and San Marino live the longest with a relative life expectancy of 83 years.

For the study senior citizens were questioned all over Europe for their well-being. The data analysis is based on the self-assessments of the subjects. "Healthy" was assessed when participants complained of no complaints or loss of physical condition. (Sb)

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Picture: Thomas Max Müller