Reactie #437 Gepost op: 3 september 2013, 13:28:18
In almost all parts of the world, women live longer than men.1 The cause of the differential between male and female life expectancy is uncertain, but it appears to be partly explained by biological advantages and partly by environmental and behavioural factors. Differences in these external factors result in substantial geographic variation. For example, in 2011 the female advantage in life expectancy at birth was 1 year in Bangladesh, 7 years in Japan and 12 years in the Russian Federation.1 Changing patterns of environmental and behavioural factors can also explain the recent narrowing of the gap in some developed countries. This may be due, at least in part, to increased smoking among women and to falling rates of cardiovascular disease among men.2,3
Because of women’s longer life expectancy, older women outnumber older men. Worldwide in 2011, women comprised 53% of adults aged 50 years or older and 59% of adults aged 70 and above.4 Most of these older women live in less developed regions (as defined by the United Nations Population Division),4 which in 2011 were home to 555 million women aged 50 years or older. In contrast, about 280 million women in this age group – or just over half as many – were living in developed regions that same year. By 2050, these numbers are projected to increase to 1.5 billion in less developed regions and to 379 million in developed regions.4 The share of the globe’s population comprising older women is also projected to increase – from 12% in 2011 to 19% in 2050.
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/91/9/12-109710/en/index.html
