TOP 10 Countries by Life Expectancy Gender Gap (2025)
Where the female–male longevity gap is widest
The life expectancy gender gap shows how many more years women are expected to live than men at birth. It is calculated as female period life expectancy minus male period life expectancy and is expressed in years.
This 2025 page uses the latest internationally comparable sex-gap dataset available in the current StatRanker review cycle: Human Mortality Database and United Nations World Population Prospects data processed by Our World in Data, last updated in October 2025 and covering country values through 2023. It should be read as a 2025 data-edition snapshot, not as final national vital-statistics results for calendar year 2025.
A large female advantage does not automatically mean women live exceptionally long lives. In high-gap countries, the main signal is often elevated male mortality from cardiovascular disease, alcohol and tobacco exposure, injuries, conflict, violence, occupational risk and delayed preventive care.
Largest gap
13.3 years
Ukraine has the widest female–male life expectancy gap in the latest comparable dataset.
Top 10 average
10.2 years
The ten highest-ranked entries show a female advantage of roughly a decade at birth.
Ranking boundary
8.9 years
Latvia closes the Top 10, with a gap still far above the global norm.
Main interpretation
Male mortality
The ranking is mainly a signal of excess male mortality, not a simple measure of health-system quality.
Why the widest gaps are not just about women living longer
Women live longer than men in nearly every country, but the size of the difference varies sharply. In the largest-gap countries, the female advantage is not only a biological pattern; it reflects mortality risks that affect men more strongly during working age and early old age.
Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet region dominate the upper part of the ranking. Ukraine and Russia stand out because male life expectancy has been heavily affected by higher death rates among young and middle-aged men. Alcohol-related mortality, smoking, cardiovascular disease, injuries and conflict exposure all contribute to the difference.
The ranking also includes countries outside Europe, such as Viet Nam and Mongolia. Their positions underline that the life expectancy gender gap is not a regional label. It is a cross-country mortality indicator shaped by health behavior, road safety, occupational risk, social conditions and how early men engage with medical care.
The most useful reading is practical: a large gap points to preventable male mortality. Narrowing it requires raising male survival while preserving gains in female longevity.
Top 10 countries and areas by life expectancy gender gap
Values show the difference between female and male period life expectancy at birth. Positive values mean women have higher life expectancy than men.
| Rank | Country or area | Gender gap | Latest year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ukraine | 13.3 years | 2023 |
| 2 | Palestine | 11.8 years | 2023 |
| 3 | Russia | 11.8 years | 2023 |
| 4 | Georgia | 9.5 years | 2023 |
| 5 | Belarus | 9.5 years | 2023 |
| 6 | Lithuania | 9.5 years | 2023 |
| 7 | Viet Nam | 9.4 years | 2023 |
| 8 | Mongolia | 9.2 years | 2023 |
| 9 | Moldova | 9.0 years | 2023 |
| 10 | Latvia | 8.9 years | 2023 |
Source values are from the female-minus-male period life expectancy series. Countries and areas are presented as named in the source dataset; values are rounded to one decimal place.
Chart: female life expectancy advantage in the Top 10
Ukraine is the clear outlier in the latest data, while Palestine and Russia form the second tier. The rest of the Top 10 sits in a narrower band between 8.9 and 9.5 years.
Methodology
Indicator definition
The life expectancy gender gap is calculated as female period life expectancy at birth minus male period life expectancy at birth. A gap of 10 years means that, under the mortality rates summarized for that year, women have a period life expectancy 10 years higher than men.
Source and snapshot logic
The ranking uses the latest female-minus-male life expectancy series available in the 2025 data cycle from Our World in Data, based on Human Mortality Database and United Nations World Population Prospects 2024 inputs. From 1950 onward, the series uses UN World Population Prospects data; the latest country-year currently shown for this indicator is 2023.
Ranking and rounding
Entries are sorted from the largest positive gap to the smallest. Values are shown in years and rounded to one decimal place. Where values are tied after rounding, the order should be treated as approximate rather than as a precise statistical separation.
Coverage
The source data include countries and areas as defined in the underlying demographic datasets. This is important for Palestine and other entries whose international statistical treatment can differ across databases. The table keeps the source naming convention instead of silently reclassifying entries.
Limits of interpretation
Period life expectancy is not a forecast of the exact age that a baby born in 2025 will reach. It summarizes mortality rates observed or estimated for a period. A high gender gap can reflect very different realities: high female longevity, depressed male longevity, conflict-related mortality, weak prevention of cardiovascular disease, or a mix of these factors.
Main table with search and sorting
Use the controls to search by country or area and sort the ranking by rank, gap size or name.
| Rank | Country or area | Gender gap | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ukraine | 13.3 years | Conflict and male premature mortality strongly affect the gap. |
| 2 | Palestine | 11.8 years | The value should be read with attention to conflict exposure and demographic data uncertainty. |
| 3 | Russia | 11.8 years | High male mortality from working-age and early old-age risks remains central. |
| 4 | Georgia | 9.5 years | The gap remains close to a decade, pointing to strong sex differences in survival. |
| 5 | Belarus | 9.5 years | Male mortality from chronic and external causes is a major part of the pattern. |
| 6 | Lithuania | 9.5 years | Despite high female longevity, male survival still lags sharply. |
| 7 | Viet Nam | 9.4 years | The Asian entry shows that large gaps are not limited to Europe. |
| 8 | Mongolia | 9.2 years | Male risk exposure and chronic-disease mortality are key interpretive factors. |
| 9 | Moldova | 9.0 years | The country remains part of the wider Eastern European high-gap cluster. |
| 10 | Latvia | 8.9 years | The gap is smaller than the leaders but still very high internationally. |
Search and sorting help compare entries, but the ranking is based on the female-minus-male life expectancy gap.
Insights from the ranking
Top of the table
Ukraine’s 13.3-year gap is the clearest outlier. It reflects the exceptional pressure of conflict on male mortality, on top of the wider Eastern European pattern of high male premature death.
Second tier
Palestine and Russia both stand at 11.8 years. The causes differ, but both values point to mortality conditions that hit men much harder than women.
Cluster around 9–10 years
Georgia, Belarus, Lithuania, Viet Nam, Mongolia, Moldova and Latvia form a high-gap band. Their values are close enough that the exact order is less important than the shared mortality structure.
What should not be inferred
A large female advantage is not a medal for health performance. It can signal that men face a heavier burden of avoidable deaths from disease, injury, behavior and social risk.
What the gender gap means for readers
For health systems, the gap identifies where male survival needs targeted attention. Cardiovascular screening, alcohol and tobacco control, mental-health access, road safety and injury prevention are not abstract policy areas; they directly influence the size of the female–male longevity gap.
For demographers, the metric helps explain why older populations often contain many more women than men. That imbalance affects widowhood, household structure, long-term care, pension systems and the social experience of ageing.
For businesses, insurers and analysts, sex-specific life expectancy affects retirement modelling, workforce planning, life insurance, healthcare demand and longevity-risk assumptions. A national average can hide large differences between men and women.
- Compare the gap with total life expectancy before drawing conclusions about national health performance.
- Read high values as a warning about male premature mortality, not only as evidence of female longevity.
- Track revisions over time, especially for countries affected by war, migration shocks or incomplete death registration.
FAQ
What does the life expectancy gender gap measure?
It measures the difference between female and male life expectancy at birth. If women have a period life expectancy of 80 years and men have 70 years, the gap is 10 years.
Why does this page use a 2025 snapshot if the latest country values are from 2023?
International demographic datasets are updated after national reporting, validation and modelling. The page is a 2025 data-edition ranking based on the latest comparable source available in that cycle, not a claim that final 2025 death-registration results are already complete.
Does a large gap mean women’s health is excellent?
Not by itself. A large gap may reflect high female life expectancy, low male life expectancy, or both. In many high-gap countries, premature male mortality is the main reason the difference is so large.
Why are Ukraine and Russia so high?
Both have large female advantages in life expectancy. Ukraine’s gap has been widened by conflict-related male mortality, while Russia has long shown high male mortality linked to alcohol, smoking, cardiovascular disease and external causes.
Why can different sources show slightly different values?
UN WPP, HMD, WHO and World Bank series can differ because of update schedules, modelling choices, death-registration inputs, census revisions and treatment of territories. Small differences should not be overinterpreted.
Is period life expectancy a prediction of one person’s lifespan?
No. Period life expectancy summarizes mortality rates for a period. A real person born in that year may live longer or shorter depending on future medical progress, conflict, income, behavior and public-health conditions.
What is the best way to use this ranking?
Use it as a diagnostic indicator. The gap is most useful when read together with total life expectancy, cause-of-death data, age-specific mortality and evidence on preventable male health risks.
Sources
Sources were selected for international comparability, demographic methodology and relevance to sex-specific life expectancy.
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Our World in Data — Sex gap in life expectancy
Used for the female-minus-male life expectancy series, latest update status, units and country values.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/difference-in-female-and-male-life-expectancy-at-birth -
United Nations — World Population Prospects 2024
Underlying source for harmonised life expectancy estimates and projections across countries and areas.
https://population.un.org/wpp/ -
Human Mortality Database
Source used in the long-run life expectancy series for countries with high-quality historical mortality data.
https://www.mortality.org/ -
World Health Organization — Global Health Observatory
Context source for life expectancy definitions, mortality indicators and health-system interpretation.
https://www.who.int/data/gho -
Our World in Data — Women live longer than men, but how much longer varies widely around the world
Used for interpretive context on why the gap is especially large in Ukraine and Russia.
https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/women-live-longer-than-men-but-how-much-longer-varies-widely-around-the-world
