The gap in life expectancy between men and women living in Ireland has declined and both sexes are living for longer, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Life expectancy at birth for men increased by 1.7 years to 76.8 years and by 1.3 years to 81.6 years for women in the four years between 2002 and 2006. The gap between male and female life expectancy fell from 5.2 years to 4.8 years during the period, the data shows.
Life expectancy at birth has increased significantly for both men and women since figures were first compiled in 1926, as a direct result of decreasing mortality rates, particularly infant mortality rates.
In 1926 male life expectancy was 57.4 years and 57.9 years for women. The gender gap of 0.5 years continued to increase until 1986 when it reached 5.7 years. It has been decreasing gradually ever since.
Over the 80 year period to 2006, male life expectancy increased by 33.8 per cent or 19.4 years, while female life expectancy increased by 40.8 per cent or 23.7 years.
The greatest rate of improvement occurred in the 20 year period between 1946 and 1966 but strong gains have also been seen over the last two decades with increases of 5.8 years for males and 4.9 years for females.
According to CSO, life expectancy increased across all 8 regions in Ireland for both males and females between 2002 and 2006.
Life expectancy at birth was highest in the Mid-East and Midlands region for males at 77.2 years and in the West for females at 82.7 years. The shortest life expectancy was recorded in the Mid-West region at 76.3 years for males and 80.4 years for females.
The figures show that the largest improvement in life expectancy over the four year period for males occurred in the Midlands with a gain of 2.4 years, while for females the biggest gains were in the Midlands and the West at 1.8 years.
In 2006, Irish male life expectancy ranked in joint 12th place with Luxembourg while Irish female life expectancy ranked 16th among EU Member States.
