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New research identifies cardiovascular disease, cancer and preventable deaths as major drivers of Australia’s life expectancy gap between men and women.
Men in Australia with lower levels of education are dying years earlier than women — and preventable causes such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, accidents and suicide are driving much of the gap, according to a new study published in BMC Public Health.
Researchers from the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at the University of Oxford, as well as Australian National University, analysed linked Australian Census and Death Registration data covering the years 2016–2019 to examine why women continue to outlive men, and how this differs by education level.
The study found that the life expectancy gap between women and men was more than twice as large among Australians with the lowest education levels compared with university graduates.
At age 25, women in Australia could expect to live 3.8 years longer than men overall. But among people with a university degree, the gap was just 2.3 years, compared with 4.7 years among those who did not complete secondary school.
The researchers found that cardiovascular disease, cancers, and external causes of death, including accidents and suicide, accounted for 70–80% of the difference in life expectancy between men and women across all education groups.
The findings suggest that many of the deaths contributing to Australia’s mortality gap are preventable, particularly among men with lower levels of education.
The study also showed that men with lower levels of education were more likely to die younger from preventable causes, particularly at working ages. Deaths linked to cardiovascular disease and external causes made especially large contributions to the life expectancy gap before age 60.
Lead author Wen Su said the study highlights how gender and socioeconomic inequality combine to shape Australians’ chances of living a long life.
“Our findings show that Australia’s gender gap in life expectancy is not just about biology. It is also shaped by education, social disadvantage, and preventable causes of death. These are not inevitable deaths. Much of the life expectancy gap is driven by causes that can be prevented, treated, or reduced through earlier intervention — especially cardiovascular disease, cancer, injuries and suicide.”
The researchers say the results have important implications for Australian public health policy, particularly as governments seek to reduce health inequalities and improve men’s health outcomes.
Potential interventions include improving access to cardiovascular screening and preventive healthcare, increasing participation in cancer screening programs among men, reducing smoking rates, and strengthening injury and suicide prevention efforts — especially in disadvantaged communities.
The research used whole-of-population linked administrative data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, allowing researchers to examine mortality patterns across different education groups in unprecedented detail.
The paper, “Causes of death contributions to the sex gaps in life expectancy: evidence by education levels from Australia”, is published in BMC Public Health.
Read the paper here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-026-26888-2
You can contact the lead author Wen Su at wen.su@demography.ox.ac.uk or lcds.media@demography.ox.ac.uk.
