Demografska analiza razlike u smrtnosti muškog i ženskog stanovništva
Demographic Analysis of the Sex Moratlity Differences

Summary/Abstract: This analysis of the available data on the mortality of the male and female population in Europe shows different patterns among countries. The complexity of the phenomenon of lower female mortality rates in countries with a long tradition of mortality statistics has been present for several centuries. Europe as a small but very complex and extremely heterogeneous continent is a good example of this complexity. The trend of different sex mortality among European countries suggests the existence of several models. Countries in the northern and western parts of Europe experienced increase in the difference of life expectancy by sex until the end of the 1970s, when the trend changed, and the gap gradually decreased. This group of countries now has the lowest difference (not counting Albania which has the smallest difference in Europe). On the other side, Eastern European countries have the highest values, not only in the Europe, but also in the world. The difference was intensively increasing in the second half of the 20th century, until it began to decrease in the mid-1990s. The countries of the central and southern parts of the continent share a similar trend in the movement of differential mortality by sex, and so do their northern neighbors, although they are at a slightly higher level. In Serbia, the changes were modest, and the difference did not change significantly over the past five decades. Differential mortality by gender in the mid-20th century was among lowest in Europe, and now it belongs to the group of countries with moderately low differences. The different mortality of men and women implies many social and demographic consequences. The feminization of the old population in Serbia due to the lower mortality rates of the female population results in a different burden of the diseases, and causes of death in the total population. When organizing health care for the elderly, we should take into account the large share of the female population, but when it comes to relatively younger age groups, the male population should be the focus of the prevention and screening efforts.

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