Survival to age 65 under current mortality rates. A different way of reading the life-expectancy gap — and often a more concrete one.
Women
88.4
% of cohort
Men
81
% of cohort
Difference
7.4
percentage points higher for women
Figures for 2024, the most recent year in the series.
The shaded band is the gap, measured in % of cohort. It was widest in 1968 at
15.7, narrowest in 2011 at
7.3, and stood at 7.4 in 2024.
Series runs 1960–2024, 65 years with both sexes reported.
What this number counts
Survival to age 65: of a hypothetical cohort born now and subjected to today’s age-specific death rates for the whole of their lives, the percentage who would reach 65.
Like life expectancy, it is built from one year of mortality rates rather than by following real people.
What this number does not say
No real cohort experiences this. It is a synthetic construction from current death rates, not an observed outcome for anyone alive.
It does not say what happens after 65, which is where most of the remaining difference in lifespan accumulates.
It does not say why, and the causes are not evenly spread across ages — deaths in early adulthood and deaths in the fifties pull on this number very differently.
The most recent value is an estimate subject to revision.
Source
World Bank World Development Indicators. Compiled by the World Bank from UN agencies, the ILO and national statistical sources. Indicators SP.DYN.TO65.FE.ZS · SP.DYN.TO65.MA.ZS.