Life expectancy boost for well off; average age now 81
Life expectancy for well-off people is rising at more than twice the rate of poorer people since the economic boom, a study shows.
Deaths of professional men, managers and self-employed bosses dropped dramatically between the 1990s and 2000s – down more than a quarter (27%).
At the same time, the rate of working class men dying only dropped 12%.
The research, by leading think-tank the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Trinity College and the National University of Ireland Maynooth, is being discussed today at a special conference.
Professor Richard Layte, of Trinity and the ESRI, said it is the first study of its kind in Ireland.
“The good news is that life expectancy for all groups in Ireland is at an all-time high,” he said. “The bad news is that the gap between groups has increased.”
Life expectancy in Ireland has been increasing for more than half a century. An average Irish person can now expect to live to 81, compared with 66 in 1950.
Better living standards, healthier lifestyles and a declining smoking habit is credited for longer lives. Medical advances in treating heart and lung disease since the late 1990s have also helped.
However, the research shows the improvements are not equally shared between the wealthy and the less well-off.
In the 1980s, twice as many working class men were dying compared to professionals. As the economic boom started in the 2000s, 140% more manual workers were dying compared to those with a profession.
Academics say the growing gap can largely be blamed on a changing pattern in deaths from accidents, poisonings, assault and suicide, as well as from digestive diseases, including of the liver and oesophagus.
The ESRI said it will explore whether rising suicide among younger unemployed men as well as increasing deaths from industrial and farming accidents during the boom play an important role in the differences.
Rising alcohol consumption has been linked with increased deaths from digestive diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver.
Death rates among working class women from digestive causes are more than two times higher than for professional women, a significant increase since the 1980s.
There is also a widening gap in cancer deaths among women from different social backgrounds, the research found.
