Research report 2016 - Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Lifespans becoming more similar
Authors
Colchero, Fernando; Rau, Roland; Scheuerlein, Alexander; Schwentker, Björn; Vaupel, James W.
Departments
MPI für demografische Forschung, Forschungsgruppe Mathematische Demografie; Arbeitsbereich Altern und Langlebigkeit; Max-Planck Odense Center zur Biodemografie des Alterns, Arbeitsbereich Epidemiologie, Biostatistik und Biodemografie; MPI für demografische Forschung, Arbeitsbereich Evolutionäre Biodemografie
Summary
The higher the life expectancy in a society, the smaller the difference between the ages at which people will die. This relation can be described by a mathematical rule, as demographic data from many countries show. The relationship holds not only for very different human cultures and epochs, but similarly for non-human primates. Although separated by millions of years of evolution, for both humans and non-human primates the lives of females tend to be longer than the lives of males, suggesting deep evolutionary roots to the male disadvantage.