The Gender Gap in Youth Mortality Rates is Widening. NewsWire

NewsWire: 11/23/21

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• In 2019, nearly two-thirds of those who died young (ages 10 to 24) were male. The gender gap in mortality rates has widened in many countries, with the mortality rates of young women falling much more steeply than those of young men in recent decades. (The Lancet)
• NH: Mortality rates among male youth have long been higher than the mortality rates of female youth at every age. But in recent decades, the gender gap in youth mortality has been growing even wider, especially between ages 15 and 24.
• Between 1950 and 2019, the mortality rate among 10- to 24-year-old women fell by -30.0%. That’s much higher than the decline in the mortality rate among men at the same age (-15.3%). In 2019, nearly two-thirds (61%) all deaths among 10- to 24-year-olds occurred in males.
• There are also big differences in trends by age group. Among children ages 10-14, deaths fell by -37.5% among males and -37.9% in females. Among teens ages 15-19, deaths fell by -17.8% in males and -27.9% in females. Among young adults ages 20-24, deaths fell by -26.9% in females and rose by +0.8% in males.

• What’s going on here? You can think of this as a “good news, bad news” story.
• The good news is that overall mortality declines in both youth genders have been driven by improvements in public health and medical treatment. We have gotten a lot better at purifying water, getting rid of sewage, keeping public spaces clean, and boosting basic nutrition--and, to further reduce death from infectious diseases, we have gotten a lot better with vaccines and antibiotics. By such means, we have achieved huge reductions in the illnesses that once killed large shares of youth. We have also made progress in addressing inequities in access to healthcare and improving the social conditions in which youth live.
• The bad news is that male youth are more likely than female youth to die from all the other causes where we haven’t made progress.
• For male youth, “transport injuries” (= injuries involving any sort of transportation, such as cars, motorcycles, or bikes) has now risen to the number one cause of death in every region of the world except Latin America. Violence is now the number two cause in every region except Latin America, where it is number one. Transport injuries are somewhat more likely to kill young males than young females. And violence is much more likely to kill young males than young females.
• Transport injuries and violence are also--you probably guessed it--two causes of death in which most countries have not seen much progress in recent decades.
• Youth violence remains the largest cause of youth mortality in societies in which the overall rate of violence is high. Leading the world in overall rates of violence are Latin America and the Caribbean. And here is where the rate of youth mortality from youth violence is the highest in absolute terms and higher than any other cause. Young men (ages 20-24) in this region are three times more likely to die from violence than young women; and over the past 20 years, the youth mortality rate from violence in these regions has not changed.
• In fact, if you look over today's leading causes of death for youth around the world, only one of the top five is still disease-related: cancer, which remains about as deadly for female as for male youth. The other four? In addition to transport injuries and violence, these are non-transport accidents and suicide. And yes, these too have a decidedly male tilt.
• To be sure, the overall mortality rate among young people worldwide is quite low. In 2019, 1.49 million people ages 10-24 died, out of a total population of 1.86 billion. But the widening gender gap illustrates the limitations of human progress. We've done a great job alleviating the toll from malnutrition and disease. We've had much less success in alleviating the toll from risky or self-destructive behavior.