The gender longevity gap

Explaining the difference between singles and couples

Abstract

In the OECD, women, on average, live 6 years longer than men. This paper studies the female to male longevity gap in different social settings. Based on the concept of the value of life, it derives the gender gap in longevity among singles, utilitarian and altruistic couples, resp., and analyses the effect of wealth on longevity. The following hypotheses are derived: i) the gender longevity gap is smaller within couples than among singles; ii) marriage increases longevity of men but decreases longevity of women; and iii) the gender longevity gap decreases with an increase in wealth. The hypotheses are tested using a complete data set of the Swiss deceased of age 65+ in 2001 and 2002, with information on the individuals' age at death and their average earnings over the life cycle.