Using national mortality data to study the changing sex differential in mortality

Sex differences in mortality vary widely among the developed countries. Male overmortality is highest in Finland and the USSR, followed closely by France, Poland, the USA and Canada. The differential is lowest in Japan, Ireland and in south-eastern Europe. The sex mortality ratio is highest at ages 15-24 years with a second peak generally occurring around age 60. The excess mortality of males at the younger ages is due largely to motor vehicle accidents while higher death rates from heart disease and lung cancer in particular account for a substantial proportion of male excess mortality during the later years of working life. During the course of the 20th century, the impact of sex differences in mortality from the infectious and parasitic diseases has declined, as has the contribution from maternal mortality. Males have also benefited from a decline in industrial accidents but this has been more than countered by rising death rates from heart diseases, lung cancer and motor vehicle accidents.