Research Shows Women Live Longer Than Men, But Suffer More Disabilities

The average life expectancy continues to increase and new research shows that while women continue to outlive men, they tend to have to spend many of those extra years dealing with certain health issues.  The life expectancy for older men has been rising drastically in recent years while it has only increased slightly for older women.  “For the study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers analyzed data collected in 1982 and 2004 as part of the National Long Term Care Survey and in 2011 for the National Health and Aging Trends Study, estimating age-specific rates of mortality and disability, chances of surviving with and without disability, and years of active life for men and women.”  There is more research that will need to be done and estate planners should be aware of how these issues will impact retirement planning. 

See Stephen Feller, Study: Women live longer than men, but with more disabilities, UPI, March 18, 2016.