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What can compare with the Declaration of Independence as an aspirational document? Our fundamental American belief is that all “are created equal … with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

But without Life, there is no Liberty or Pursuit of Happiness. That endowment of Life is not distributed equally in this Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

At birth in 2021, Males had a life expectancy of 73.5 years, 5.8 years less than Females. Many people know a host of reasons for this differential: Males are more aggressive, engage in more dangerous occupations, have toxic addictions (alcohol, tobacco, firearms and drugs).

Males just don’t behave in ways that might lengthen their lives. It might be genetic, but it’s bad habits no matter what the reason.

Unfortunately, except for Males just being rotten to begin with, those arguments don’t hold up. Male mortality rates are 16% higher than Female rates in the very first year of life before most bad habits can be formed. During the following nine years of Life, Males have a 21% greater chance of dying than Females.

Do you think Mothers are at fault? Knowing they are going to have a Male child, do expecting Moms take to booze and pot in anticipation of the grief that embryo will cause? Whereas Mothers expecting fragile Females are more likely to follow good habits in pregnancy?

At almost every single age through age 99, the National Center for Health Statistics reports Male mortality rates in 2021 exceed those for Females. The exceptions are 10 and 11 year old Females, perhaps in their peak Tom-boy years, have mortality rates 13% higher than their Male counterparts.

For the U.S. population in general, Male mortality rates exceed Female rates on average by 68% with a high of close to 162% between ages 20 and 24. At every age, 15 to 36, Male rates are double Female rates.

All these figures vary by race and ethnicity. Hispanic Males have mortality rates that average 85% higher than Hispanic Females. From ages 9 through 13, Males have mortality rates as much as 25% below Hispanic Females. However, Male rates are double, even triple, Female rates for a period of 30 years from ages 16 to 46.

Black Males have mortality rates as high as 253% greater than Black Females during ages 14 to 37. Baby Black Males have the highest mortality rates in the first year of life at 1.2% compared to the low of 0.4% for Baby Asian Males. At birth, Asian Males have a life expectancy of 81 years while American Indian and Alaskan Native Males have a life expectancy of just 62 years.

A nation consecrated to Equality would question these disparities and seek to secure Life for all its citizens, notably its largest minority of citizens, Males.
Morton J. Marcus is an economist formerly with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His column appears in Indiana newspapers, and his views can be followed his podcast.

© 2024 Morton J. Marcus

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