Countries With The Smallest Life Expectancy Gender Gaps

An elder Fulani woman and elder Fulani man from the West African nation of Mali.
An elder Fulani woman and elder Fulani man from the West African nation of Mali.

Life expectancy is the statistical measure of the average time a human being is going to live in the world. It is based on two main demographic factors, namely their time of birth and the current age of a person and/or time of death. Many factors affect the life expectancy rate of a person, including the spread of communicable diseases such as AIDS. Poverty prevents the access to safe drinking water and adequate, clean sanitation so people drink polluted water, and often there are no proper sewers installed within homes. Other factors are the age of parents at which they died. However, happy and contended living gives higher life expectancy.

Countries with Low Gender Gaps in Life Expectancy

These top countries have lower gender gap in the life expectancy of male and female in the country as Mali has 0.10 years of gap. The recorded gender gap in Bhutan in life expectancy of both the sexes is 0.60 years and in Burkina Faso, it is said to be 1.40 years, which are considered low.

Mali

Mali gains top spot in the lower gender gap of life expectancy because there is equality between both the sexes and no biases towards a particular sex. The data of the country shows that the death due to communicable disease such as AIDS is 4% in the age group of 15-49 years of the adult group. Mali also recognized some laws that restrict any kind of discrimination or violence against the women. Male and female have an equal access to medical care in the country and life expectancy of women are 58.30 years and of males are 58.20 years.

Bhutan

Bhutan stands on the second spot because of the awareness among the people for the gender parity and providing education to male and females both. This has also helped in reducing the mortality rates with access to good medical health care. Bhutan had a slightly increased gender inequality ratio in 2012 but with the recent developments, now the male life expectancy is 69.50 years and for women, it is 70.10 years.

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso takes the third spot with male life expectancy at 59.10 years and female at 60.50 years. However, in the past years, it has lower literacy rates and poor living conditions. However, with the introduction of technology since the year 1970, the country is working towards the health care, increasing literacy rates among the women of the country and even spending more on educating its people. Moreover, women maintaining hygienic conditions at home have helped a lot.

Symbolic Effects of a Small Gender Gap

With the help of this small gender gap in the life expectancy of both males and females, it is gaining importance for the economic growth as a whole. The curbing of gender inequality with the help of various laws and regulations has also helped in gender mainstreaming. Education has also played an important role, as the people are able to maintain hygienic condition, which in return will help them to lead a great life and social welfare.

Countries With The Smallest Life Expectancy Gender Gap

RankCountryMale Life Expectancy (in years)Female Life Expectancy (in years)Gender Gap
1Mali58.2058.300.10
2Bhutan69.5070.100.60
3Burkina Faso59.1060.501.40
4Sierra Leone49.3050.801.50
5Guinea58.2059.801.60
6Bahrain76.2077.901.70
7Niger60.9062.801.90
8Pakistan65.5067.502.00
9Iran74.5076.602.10
10Cote de Ivoire52.3054.402.10
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