ResearchBlack Boys & Men, Mental Health
Six Facts on Men’s Health
This brief highlights key statistics on men’s health. Men face significant health challenges, including shorter life expectancies, high suicide rates, and substantial losses due to drug overdoses and COVID-19. Despite these issues, there aren’t many public health goals that target men, and only one male-specific preventive measure is covered by the ACA. These facts underscore the need for focused attention on men’s health.
Key Takeaways
- Men die more than five years earlier than women, Black men even earlier
- COVID-19 took 650,000 men’s lives
- The suicide rate is four times higher for men
- Men lost 1.5 million years of life to drug overdoses in 2022
- There are almost no official goals for men’s health
- Just one male-specific preventive measure is covered by the ACA
1. Men die more than five years earlier than women, Black men even earlier
In 2022, projected life expectancy in the U.S. was 76.8 years for men and 80.2 years for women. This gender gap has widened over the last decade. Life expectancy varies by race as well as gender, with the biggest gender gap, of 8 years, between Black men and Black women.
2. COVID-19 took 650,000 men’s lives
Many men’s lives were lost to COVID-19. At the latest CDC count, 652,000 American men and 539,000 women have died from the virus. In the peak year of the pandemic, 2021, the age-adjusted death rate for men was 60% higher than for women:
3. The suicide rate is four times higher for men
Male suicide rates are four times higher than women’s. Both the level and the gender gap varies by age, however. As AIBM research shows, the suicide risk has risen particularly rapidly among young men since 2010. In absolute numbers, around 40,000 men lose their lives to suicide each year.
4. Men lost 1.5 million years of life to drug overdoses in 2022
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calculates the potential years of life lost each year as a result of deaths from injuries and accidents occuring before the age of 65, including from suicide, homicide and overdoses. The calculation is intended to put more weight on an earlier death from a non-natural cause; a person who dies at the age of 25 loses 30 more years of potential life than if they were to die at 55, for example. The CDC data, reaching back to 2001, shows that around three times as many potential years of life are lost for men as for women. In 2022, more than four million years of potential life were lost for men, and almost one and half million years for women.
5. There are very few official goals for men’s health
Official public health targets are set by the federal government every decade. The latest, Healthy People 2030, were released in 2020 and comprise 359 core or measurable health benchmarks. Many of these relate to particular demographic groups. However, there are just four goals for men, fewer than for any of the other groups.
6. Just one male-specific preventive measure covered by the ACA
As of June 2024, there are 44 preventive health care interventions for adults covered under the Affordable Care Act (excluding vaccinations). Some of these are for everyone, while some are for specific groups. 20 apply to both sexes, 12 relate to pregnancy, 11 apply to women (unrelated to pregnancy), and one applies only to men.
The men-only provision is screening for an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm among men aged 65-75 who are smokers or former smokers.
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