Israel’s life expectancy is in the top 10 highest around the world; however, this past year saw the steepest decline, specifically in men’s life expectancy, due to the challenging health circumstances since the coronavirus pandemic went widespread in March 2020.
From 2019 to 2020, life expectancy for Israeli men decreased by 3.5 months, from 81 to 80.7. For Arab men, the numbers went down almost 1.5 years, from 78.1 to 76.6. Channel 13 News reported that this was the sharpest decline since 1996.
Based on a study done between March – December 2020, mortality rates for males were higher in every age and population group across the board. Israel isn’t the only country whose men are more gravely impacted. In a study done in June 2020, 38 out of 43 countries where data was available found that “more men than women have died due to COVID-19, despite a similar number of confirmed cases in each sex.”
The study mentioned that the combination of pre-existing conditions in men, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes, plus “delayed health-care seeking” might be responsible for men’s vulnerability to COVID-19.
