Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Lowered birth rates one reason why women outlive men

lowered birth rates and why women outive men
Source:  Uppsala Universitet | Summary: Using unique demographic records on 140,600 reproducing individuals from the Utah Population Database (USA), a research team has come to the conclusion that lowered birth rates are one reason why women outlive men in today’s societies.

"Using unique demographic records on 140,600 reproducing individuals from the Utah Population Database (USA), a research team led from Uppsala University has come to the conclusion that lowered birth rates are one reason why women outlive men in today's societies. The study is published in Scientific Reports.

The causes underpinning sex differences in lifespan are hotly debated. While women commonly outlive men, this is generally less pronounced in societies before the demographic transition to low mortality and fertility rates.

Using unique longitudinal demographic records on 140,600 reproducing individuals from the Utah Population Database, USA, the research team shows that men who were born in the early to mid-1800s lived on average two years longer than women. This reversed over time and women born in the early 1900s outlived men by four years.

During this period, fertility in the population decreased from an average of 8.5 in the early 1800s to an average of 4.2 children per woman in the early 1900s. Female lifespan increased, while male lifespan remained largely stable, supporting the theory that differential costs of reproduction in the two sexes result in the shifting patterns of sex differences in lifespan across human populations..."

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