Women still outlive men, but the gender gap among U.S. seniors is narrowing.
New 2010 census figures, released Thursday, show men are narrowing the female population advantage, primarily in the 65-plus age group. It’s a change in the social dynamics of a country in which longevity, widowhood and health care for seniors often have been seen as issues more important to women.
In all, the numbers highlight a nation that is rapidly aging even as Congress debates cuts in Medicare, an issue with ramifications for the growing ranks of older men.
“We know in the past because of women’s longer life expectancy, women put more emphasis on health care issues because they lived to an older age and often had to rely on the pensions of their husbands,” said Jen’nan G. Read, an associate professor of sociology and global health at Duke University.
“I would expect men to become more aware and involved in health care now that they may be affected in the same way as women,” she said.
Over the past decade, the number of men in the U.S. increased by 9.9 percent, faster than the 9.5 percent growth rate for women. As a result, women outnumbered men by just 5.18 million, compared with 2000, when there were 5.3 million more women than men.
The male-female ratio in the U.S. also increased to 96.7 from 96.3 in 2000, reflecting the narrowing of the female advantage in overall population. (A score of 100 signifies equal numbers of men and women; a male-female ratio of 95, for example, would mean there are 95 men for every 100 women in the population.) There hasn’t been such a sustained resurgence in the U.S. male population since 1910, when medical advances started to increase women’s life expectancies by reducing deaths during pregnancy.
Broken down by subgroups, men were more numerous than women among those 34 and younger as more boys than girls tend to be born.
At age 35 and higher, the female population historically has been the majority as men were more likely to die prematurely from accidents, homicide or risks caused by workplace stress, alcohol, smoking or other factors. By age 85, the number of women typically is more than twice that of men. Life expectancy at birth is 80.8 years on average for women, compared with 75.6 for men.
But over the past decade, the gender gap has narrowed. Since 2000, men who were 65 and older increased by 21 percent, nearly double the 11.2 percent growth rate for women in that age group. Among those 65 to 74, the male-female ratio also has narrowed sharply. The number of women in that age group exceeds men by roughly 1.5 million, down from 1.8 million in 2000.
The latest census figures come amid a graying baby boomer demographic of 78 million people — now between the ages of 46 and 65 and looking ahead to retirement — who will have a major voice in the 2012 elections as federal spending and the upward spiraling costs of Medicare rise to the forefront.
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