Home > Statistics > Deaths > 2017 > Men died on average 7 years younger than women

Published: 27 April 2018

Men died on average 7 years younger than women

According to Statistics Finland, a total of 53,722 persons died in 2017, which is 201 fewer than in 2016. Men died, on average, 7.1 years younger than women while twenty years ago, the corresponding difference between average ages at death was 13.3 years. Average life expectancy at birth was 78.7 years for boys and 84.2 years for girls in 2017.

Age distribution at the time of death by sex in 2017

In 2017, men died, on average, at the age of 74.8 and women at 81.9. So, women died, on average, 7.1 years older than men. In young age groups, a majority of deaths occurred among young men but among persons aged 82 and older there were more women than men. The median age at death for men was 77.4 years and for women 85.4 years. The median describes the middle value, that is, one-half of all persons that died, died at a younger or older age than the median age at death.

Altogether, 53,722 persons died in 2017, of which there were 68 men more than women. The total number was 201 lower than in 2016, when the number of deaths reached a record level since the 1940s. Most people died in January, 5,492 persons, which was the second highest monthly number of deaths since 1944.

Deaths in 1930 to 2017

In 2017, the average life expectancy at birth was 78.7 years for boys and 84.2 years for girls. For boys, the life expectancy increased by 0.3 years and for girls by 0.1 years compared with 2016. Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a person aged 0 would live provided the rate of mortality remains unchanged.

The number of children dying at the age of under one year was 102, which is at the same level as in the two previous years. In 2017, the number of infant deaths per one thousand live-born children was 2.0, which is 0.1 per mil units higher than in the previous year. Even though the number of infant deaths remained almost unchanged, infant mortality rate is slightly higher than the two previous years due to a lower number of births.

Annual number of deaths by sex and deaths of 0-year-olds in 2007 to 2017

Year	Total	Men	Women	0-year-olds total
2007	49 077	24 809	24 268	161
2008	49 094	24 457	24 637	157
2009	49 883	25 150	24 733	158
2010	50 887	25 539	25 348	140
2011	50 585	25 335	25 250	143
2012	51 707	25 623	26 084	141
2013	51 472	25 631	25 841	102
2014	52 186	25 748	26 438	124
2015	52 492	25 992	26 500	97
2016	53 923	26 922	27 001	100
2017	53 722	26 895	26 827	102

Source: Deaths 2017. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Katariina Heikkilä 029 551 3638, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (257.5 kB)

Tables

Tables in databases

Pick the data you need into tables, view the data as graphs, or download the data for your use.

• Database tables and their variables
• Archived tables

Figures

• Appendix figure 1. Deaths at the age of under one year by sex in 1990 to 2017 (27.4.2018)
• Appendix figure 2. Life expectancy at birth by sex in 1980 to 2017* (27.4.2018)

Quality descriptions

• Quality description, deaths 2017 (27.4.2018)

---

Updated 27.4.2018