The gap: The female-male life expectancy gap has widened

The gap: The female-male life expectancy gap has widened

11/14/23 7:00PM

The difference in life expectancy between men and women in the US has grown to its widest point in nearly 25 years, with females slated to live nearly 6 years longer on average in 2021, according to CDC data.

The CDC’s latest Vital Statistics Report revealed that overall life expectancy — in large part due to Covid-19 deaths — had fallen to 76.4 years, down from 78.8 only 2 years prior, concurrent with a 2.8-year decrease in life expectancy at birth for males, to just 73.5 years.

‍On the basis of sex

‍Since modern record-keeping began, women have consistently lived longer than men, a phenomenon observed around the world that has been linked to genetics, as well as social and economic factors, with everything from hormones to risk-seeking behavior posited as an explanation for the persistent gap.

But, in the US specifically, the gap between the sexes had been narrowing after peaking at 7.8 years in the 1970s. A new study published on Monday puts the more recent widening down to a rise in unintentional injuries (mostly drug overdoses), accidents, suicides, and the pandemic, which disproportionately affected men.

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The most watched soccer match in US history got less than a third of the views the Super Bowl did

Between a top-spot finish in the group stage, a sweeping performance against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, and the president’s controversial intervention, Monday evening’s USMNT game against Belgium had, to put it lightly, shaped up into a box-office clash.

And though the US players’ performance on the pitch might not have lived up to the high drama off it, American soccer fans certainly showed up. According to early estimates, the 4-1 defeat against Belgium was the most watched soccer telecast in US history, hauling some 40 million viewers on average across the coverage on Fox and Telemundo.

That may be a record tally in the US for the sport that much of the world calls some variant of “football” — besting the 36.2 million who tuned in to watch the team’s previous knock-out match — but it’s still peanuts in comparison to the sport that shares the same name in the States.

World cup viewers chart — Sherwood News

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