Zašto muškarci žive kraće od žena?
Why Men Live Shorter Than Women?

Author(s): Ivan Marinković
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Sociology, Demography and human biology, Migration Studies
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: mortality; sex mortality differences; European trends; Serbia
Summary/Abstract: Men and women do not share a common mortality pattern nowhere in the world, and it is men who are always disadvantaged when it comes to health. Apart from biological determinants, the discrepancy is further enlarged by different behavior of men and women. Men tend to consume more tobacco and alcohol, have worse diet and take less care of their personal health, as well as visit their doctors less frequently then women. Also, the violent causes of death are more frequent in men. A review of the available literature and the papers published by the author on the given topic shows the complex relationship between factors that affect differential mortality by sex. The aim of the paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current findings on the factors that lead to the difference in mortality by sex, both in the world and in Serbia. Differences in mortality per sex in Serbia are moderate, and the analysis of certain factors of mortality that affect life expectancy point to smoking as the single biggest cause of higher mortality in men. By eliminating smoking, we could bring about a significant change in mortality for both men and women, and reduce the sex determined difference in life expectancy by half.

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