Could it be that men are not the weaker sex? That in fact it was an aversion to doctors and a penchant for cigarettes and alcohol that caused men to die earlier than women?
Seems so. New data from the Department of Health and Ageing suggests that as men change their attitude to health, diet and fitness, they will catch up to women in the longevity stakes.
A female born in 2001 could expect to live 5.4 years longer than a boy born at the same time. But that is now expected to narrow to 3.5 years by 2051.
This also means that within 40 years the number of people aged over 65 will have almost tripled from 2.8 million to 7.2 million. This means that 25% of the population will be made up of people over 65 in 2050. And about one in 11 people will be over 85.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
COMMENTS
SmartCompany is committed to hosting lively discussions. Help us keep the conversation useful, interesting and welcoming. We aim to publish comments quickly in the interest of promoting robust conversation, but we’re a small team and we deploy filters to protect against legal risk. Occasionally your comment may be held up while it is being reviewed, but we’re working as fast as we can to keep the conversation rolling.
The SmartCompany comment section is members-only content. Please subscribe to leave a comment.
The SmartCompany comment section is members-only content. Please login to leave a comment.