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CSO statistical release, , 11am

Irish Life Tables

2015-2017

Life expectancy at birth and age 65 by sex, 2016
Age MaleFemaleGender gap1
Birth79.683.43.8
Age 6518.321.02.7
1 The difference between male and female life expectancy

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Life expectancy for females higher than for males by 3.8 years

  • Life expectancy at birth was 79.6 years for males and 83.4 years for females in the period 2015-2017. (See table above and tables 1, 2, 3 and fig.1).
  • In the five years between 2011 and 2016 life expectancy increased by 1.2 years for males and 0.6 years for females.
  • Females have a higher life expectancy than males, but this gender gap narrowed from 4.4 years in 2011 to 3.8 in 2016.
  • Life expectancy at birth for males in 1926 was just 57.4 years, slightly below that of females at 57.9 years, a gender gap of 0.5 years. This gender gap increased steadily until it reached 5.7 years in 1986 but has continued to drop since then to 3.8 years in 2016. (See table 3).