The gender difference in life expectancy is not an exclusive demographic feature of Kazakhstan. According to results of the study by analysts of the online scientific publication OurWorldinData, the gap in life expectancy between men and women can be traced in every country. However, in some countries the gap is small (only 3-4 years), while in others it is huge (more than 10 years). According to the study by OurWorldinData, this depends on many socio-economic factors, such as the level of healthcare development, birth rate, mortality structure, crime rate, etc.
Despite the fact that more boys are born into the world, at birth and up to the age of one they have lower life chances than peer girls. This thesis is confirmed by infant mortality rates by gender. For example, the mortality rate among boys under 1 year of age was 8.5, while among girls it was 6.8 per 1 thousand births in 2022.
Due to suicide, crime, road accidents, fatal cases of industrial injuries, and high mortality from diseases of the cardiovascular system more men die than women at the age of 36–55 years. According to the Committee for Legal Statistics and Special Accounts of the State Office of Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 3.7 thousand cases of committed suicides were recorded in January-December last year. In 79.3% of cases, the dead were men. The source’s reports on the number of murder victims over the past year also showed significant gender differences: 68% of all those killed were men.
One of the extremely important reasons for the decline in the male population in middle and older age is a higher mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) than in women. The scientific online publication OurWorldinData provides the following data for Kazakhstan: the mortality rate from CVD in men was 2 times higher than in women in 2021. The indicator for Kazakhstani men was 318.6 per 100 thousand people, women - 166.1.
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