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Austrian women live longer, but men less alone, study says
Dec 14, 2007, 14:49 GMT
Vienna - Austrian women on average live almost six years longer than men, but are more prone to a lonely old age, Austria's statistics office said on Friday.
In 2006, the average life expectancy of Austrian women was 83 years, compared with 77 years for men.
'Women are programmed for constant strain, men for peak performance over a short period of time,' Gabriela Petrovic of the statistics institute said.
However, more than 38 per cent of women between 70 and 74 live alone, but only 15 per cent of males in the same age bracket. The situation is more pronounced in over 75 age group - 49 per cent of women and 22 of men per cent are single.
Among younger people, the statistics are upside down: women wed earlier, while men stayed single until later in life.
Analysts expect the life expectancy to grow continuously, but believe the male-female gap will narrow slightly to five years by 2030. Women can then can expect to celebrate their 86th birthdays.
Women remained disadvantaged in Austria's job market, the study said, earning only 74 per cent of an average male income. Only 31 per cent of leading positions were filled with women.
In the education sector, women university graduates overtook their male colleagues. However, there was still a significant lack of female university teachers 14 per cent and the share of women in technical fields also remained low.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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