Life expectancy in France continues to increase slowly, even if the differences persist. In 2023, it was 85.7 years for women and 80 years for men, compared to 85.6 and 79.7 years respectively in 2019. But if life expectancy increases, life expectancy in good health decreases.
At the end of December 2023, the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees) highlighted a one-year drop in healthy life expectancy in 2022 compared to 2021 – although still generally higher than 2008. If the ascendancy of women over men is still verified from the age of 65 (11.8 years compared to 10.2 years in good health), a new study reported by The Guardian suggests that, all ages combined and at the global level, they would actually live less long without disability than men.
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The main reason is an over-representation of men among people with diseases leading to premature death (cardiovascular, respiratory and renal diseases). Conversely, women are more affected by non-fatal illnesses, therefore causing them to live longer but in a poor state of health (musculoskeletal problems, mental health and migraine disorders).
Adapted public policies
“Our analysis highlights the need for detailed information on health needs in both sexes based on age, world region and context,” explains Gabriela Fernanda Gil, one of the researchers who participated in the study. “The existence of differences and trends [que nous avons identifiées] demonstrates the need to adopt concerted strategies, taking into account sex and gender equality and recognizing the specific health needs of different populations.”
While these results are important in terms of public health policies, the team of scientists highlights a lack of data disaggregated by sex and gender. This need for more representative data is not trivial, since real differences exist: for example, the risk of mortality would be twice as high among trans people than in the general population.
In 2021, France was among the European countries with the best life expectancy without disability at birth, ranking 5e for men (65.5 years) and 6e for women (66.9 years) according to Eurostat. More generally, health is better there than elsewhere on the continent (in addition to the high smoking rate). According to the international study “Global Burden of Disease”, the French are particularly less affected by cardiovascular diseases than their neighbors.
