Life expectancy of women at birth higher than men

The life expectancy at birth was 78.7 years for boys and 84.2 years for girls in 2017, according to Statistics Finland.

Compared with 2016, the life expectancy of boys grew by 0.3 years and that of girls by 0.1 years.

Life expectancy is an age-standardised indicator that describes the level of mortality observed during the calculation period.

In 2017, the difference between sexes in life expectancy at birth was 5.5 years. In the past 30 years, the life expectancy of newborn boys has lengthened by 8 years and that of girls by 5.5 years. The difference between sexes was largest in the late 1970s when it was nine years.

The life expectancy of men aged 65 was 18.2 years and that of women aged 65 was 21.8 years in 2017. Compared with 1987, the life expectancy of men aged 65 has lengthened by 4.8 years and that of women by 4.2 years.

Regional differences in life expectancy bigger for boys than for girls

In the period 2015 to 2017, the life expectancy of newborn boys was longest in Central Ostrobothnia, 80.6 years, and shortest in Kainuu, 76.6 years. The life expectancy of newborn girls was longest in Ostrobothnia, 85.3 years, and shortest in Päijät-Häme, 83.4 years.

Differences between regions in life expectancies were bigger for men than women. The life expectancy of a boy born in Central Ostrobothnia was 4 years longer than in Kainuu, where boys’ life expectancy was lowest. For girls, the corresponding difference between the longest and shortest life expectancy was 1.8 years.

Men's life expectancy was shorter than that of women in all regions. In the period 2015 to 2017, the difference between sexes was biggest in Kainuu, where men’s life expectancy was 7.4 years shorter than women's. The difference between sexes was smallest in Central Ostrobothnia, 3.6 years.

Life expectancy at birth was highest for both men and women in urban municipalities and lowest in rural municipalities, when municipalities are divided by the statistical grouping of municipalities. The life expectancy of newborn boys in urban municipalities, 78,7 years, was nearly one year longer than in rural municipalities, 77.8 years. The life expectancy of girls in urban municipalities was 84.2 years and in urban municipalities 83.9 years.