Older Men: Shorter Lives, Unspoken Loneliness and Suicide in Later Life

Worldwide, a man who reaches 60 can expect to live about 19.6 more years, against 22.8 for a woman of the same age^[1]. In countries including the United States and the Republic of Korea, the oldest men also have the highest suicide rates of any age group, older men are less likely than older women to say they are lonely, and, in Canadian primary care research covering adults of all ages, men are less likely than women to seek help for their mental health.

For many men, later life brings changes that come all at once and are rarely talked about: leaving a job that gave the day its shape and its company, losing a wife or partner who kept up the family’s friendships and appointments, living with a long-term illness that is easier to put up with than to mention. None of this is a failing of the men concerned. It reflects services that were often not built with older men in mind, and expectations about what men should cope with alone. This study sets out what the data show about older men’s health and lives around the world, where the evidence is thin, and what community approaches such as men’s sheds have, and have not yet, been shown to do.

Men at 60 can expect about three fewer years of life than women, and the gap is widest in the Western Pacific and Europe

The World Health Organization’s estimates for 2023 give men aged 60 a further 19.6 years of life on average worldwide, and women 22.8 years, a gap of 3.2 years^[1]. The gap is found in every WHO region, but its size varies a great deal. It is largest in the Western Pacific, where men at 60 can expect 19.8 more years and women 23.9, a difference of 4.1 years, and in Europe (20.7 against 24.5, a gap of 3.8). It is smallest in the Eastern Mediterranean, at 1.6 years (18.2 against 19.8)^[1]. Men aged 60 in the Americas can expect to live longer (21.3 years) than women of the same age in Africa (18.4) or South-East Asia (20.3), a reminder that where an older man lives shapes his prospects at least as much as his sex.

The COVID-19 pandemic cut life expectancy at 60 for both sexes. Worldwide, men’s fell from 19.8 years in 2019 to 18.4 in 2021, and women’s from 22.8 to 21.6; by 2023 women’s had returned to its 2019 level, while men’s, at 19.6, was still slightly below it^[1].

Shorter lives are not the same as more years in poor health. WHO’s healthy life expectancy estimates for 2023 give men at 60 about 14.7 years in full health, and women 16.6^[4]. Subtracting one figure from the other, men can expect about 4.9 years in less than full health after 60 and women about 6.2. Men’s later lives are, on average, shorter rather than sicker: the disadvantage these figures show is mainly in how long they live. Women’s longer years in poorer health are covered in our study of older women.

Men use primary care less, especially for their mental health

The best evidence we could verify on help-seeking by sex comes from Canada, and it suggests that men consult less than women, with a larger difference for emotional than for physical problems. In Canada’s part of the international QUALICOPC study, which surveyed 7,260 patients in 759 practices across 10 provinces in 2013, women reported visiting their primary care provider to a greater extent than men for both physical and mental health concerns, and patients of both sexes were less likely to seek care for mental health concerns than for physical ones^[5]. Age, trust in doctors and having a chronic condition all shaped whether people sought care for mental health problems^[5].

That study covered adults of all ages, and here the evidence for older men specifically is thin. Large surveys rarely publish consultation or help-seeking figures by sex within later life, so it is hard to say how much of the pattern persists after 65. What the research does suggest is where the gap is likely to matter most: mental health, the kind of concern people in the Canadian study were least likely to bring to a doctor.

WHO’s European region recognised this in 2018 when it published a Strategy on the health and well-being of men, built from a review of the evidence and consultation with experts, civil society and member states^[6]. Its companion report argues that gender norms influence how health systems respond to men’s health needs^[6]. In other words, the gap is not only about what men do; it is also about how services are designed, where they are offered and what they assume.

The oldest men have the highest suicide rates in the US and Korea, and rates vary several-fold between countries

More than 720,000 people die by suicide each year, WHO estimates, and close to three quarters (73%) of these deaths in 2021 were in low- and middle-income countries^[7]. Across all ages, men’s suicide rate worldwide in 2023 was estimated at 12.9 per 100,000, against 5.5 for women^[3].

In later life the difference between men and women often widens. In the United States, the suicide rate among men aged 75 and over was 40.7 per 100,000 in 2023 and 40.1 in 2024, the highest of any age group of either sex; for women aged 75 and over it was 5.1 and 4.6^[2]. Among American men aged 65 to 74 the rate was 26.5 in 2023 and 26.2 in 2024^[2]. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that men’s rate overall has been about three to four times women’s throughout 2014 to 2024^[2].

WHO’s country estimates for 2021 show the same pattern well beyond the US, though with very different levels. Among people aged 70 and over, the estimated rate for men was 96.8 per 100,000 in the Republic of Korea, against 28.8 for women; in Korea it was 48.7 for men aged 60 to 69 and 38.1 for men of all ages^[3]. Rates for men aged 70 and over were also high in Slovenia (78.6), Lithuania (73.5) and Hungary (64.0), and much lower in Canada (15.3), the United Kingdom (12.6) and Ireland (12.6)^[3]. These are modelled estimates that can differ from national figures, and they are crude rates, so they reflect the age mix within the 70-plus group.

The range matters. If the oldest men’s suicide rates were simply a fact of aging, they would not differ so widely from one country to the next. The differences suggest that conditions societies can change play a part, such as how well depression is recognised and treated in later life and how easily older men can reach help, although these data cannot show which factors matter most in any one country. Suicide is never an inevitable result of age, illness or loss, and support does help.

Older men are less likely to say they are lonely, but losing a partner hits them hard

WHO’s Commission on Social Connection estimated in 2025 that 1 in 6 people worldwide is affected by loneliness, and that loneliness is linked to more than 871,000 deaths a year^[8]. How loneliness shows up in older men, though, depends a great deal on how the question is asked.

A study of 6,936 people aged 50 and over in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing found that older men were less likely than older women to say directly that they were lonely, even when their scores on an indirect loneliness scale were the same^[9]. Partnership made a large difference. Men who lived with a partner were less lonely than women who did, but men who had been married and no longer lived with a partner were lonelier than women in the same position. The authors found evidence that older men’s weaker friendships helped explain this, and concluded that severely isolated older men may under-report loneliness^[9].

A Norwegian study that followed 9,952 people in the NorLAG study for up to 20 years, using national death registers, points the same way^[10]. Social isolation, driven mainly by having no partner and little contact with children, was associated with a 15% higher risk of death for men (hazard ratio 1.15) and 16% for women (1.16), after adjustment for age and other factors. For men only, saying yes to a direct question about loneliness was linked to a higher risk of death even in fully adjusted models (hazard ratio 1.20)^[10]. The authors suggest men may deny loneliness unless it is severe, so the men who do name it may be the ones who most need a response. These are associations; they do not show that loneliness itself causes earlier death.

For many older men, a wife or partner is the main source of company and the link to wider family and friends, so widowhood or separation can remove much of a social world at once. Living alone in later life is covered in more depth in our study of older people living alone.

Men’s sheds: popular and promising, but still thinly evaluated

Men’s sheds are community workshops where men, many of them retired, meet to make and mend things side by side. They are often described as a way to reach men who would not join a health programme or a support group.

The evidence is encouraging but limited. A 2022 mixed-methods systematic review included 52 studies (35 qualitative, nine quantitative and eight mixed-methods) and found evidence of benefits from shed participation for self-rated health, social isolation and well-being^[11]. It identified three features of successful sheds: suitable premises, sufficient funding, and management run by the members themselves. It also called for longitudinal studies able to test cause and effect^[11]. An earlier scoping review of 16 peer-reviewed papers found the data were mostly self-reported and based on small samples or low response rates, with physical health outcomes less studied than mental and social ones^[12].

The strongest single evaluation so far comes from Ireland. Sheds for Life, a 10-week health programme designed with shed members and delivered inside sheds, followed 421 participants alongside a waiting-list comparison group of 86^[13]. Subjective and mental well-being, physical activity, social capital and healthy eating all improved significantly after the programme. An economic evaluation estimated a cost of €15,724 per quality-adjusted life year gained^[14]. Participants were recruited by purposive sampling rather than randomly assigned, and they were men who already attended a shed, so the results show what sheds can do as a setting for health promotion rather than proving that sheds by themselves improve health.

What the evidence asks of us

The figures point to gaps in how services reach older men, not to anything wrong with older men themselves. Taken together, they suggest several things for health services, commissioners, funders and governments.

• Treat later life as a priority in suicide prevention. In the US, men aged 75 and over have the highest suicide rate of any age group, and in Korea WHO’s estimate for men aged 70 and over is about double that for men in their sixties^[2][3]. WHO’s LIVE LIFE approach recommends limiting access to means, responsible media reporting, and identifying, assessing, managing and following up anyone affected by suicidal behaviour^[7]; national strategies can make sure older men are explicitly included in that last step, in primary care, hospitals and care services.
• Design services around how men seek help. Men consult less than women for mental health concerns^[5], and older men are less likely to name loneliness when asked directly^[9]. Asking about mood and social contact routinely, using indirect as well as direct questions, and offering support in places men already go, fits the evidence better than waiting for men to come forward. WHO Europe’s strategy on men’s health offers a framework for this kind of gender-responsive approach^[6].
• Recognise bereavement and separation as moments of risk. Men who had been married and no longer lived with a partner were lonelier than women in the same position in England, and the absence of a partner drove much of the link between isolation and mortality in Norway^[9][10]. Bereavement and social prescribing services can reach out to older men at these points rather than relying on referral.
• Fund community settings such as men’s sheds, and evaluate them properly. The 2022 review identifies sufficient funding and suitable premises as conditions for success, and calls for longitudinal research^[11]. Building evaluation into funding, as Sheds for Life did, would give the field the evidence it lacks^[13].
• Make social connection public policy. The World Health Assembly has urged member states to develop evidence-based policies and programmes on social connection^[8]; those plans should look specifically at older men, whose loneliness the usual survey questions are likely to miss.
• Publish data by sex within later life. Consultation rates, mental health treatment and loneliness are rarely reported separately for men at 65, 75 and 85 and over. Without those figures, the gaps described here are hard to track.

Language: this piece says "older people" rather than "the elderly", and "older men", as men’s health organisations and men’s sheds generally do. Most of the statistics here are reported by sex as recorded in death registrations and surveys, and do not capture gender identity; the experiences of trans and non-binary older people are covered in our study of LGBTQ+ older people.

Why we're publishing this

Older men’s health is often discussed only in terms of individual behaviour: men who will not go to the doctor, who keep things to themselves. The data tell a broader story: life expectancy shaped by where men live, loneliness that standard questions miss, and suicide rates among the oldest men that differ several-fold between countries. We are publishing this study for men’s health organisations, men’s sheds and everyone who works alongside older men, so that the case for better services can rest on clear, sourced figures from around the world.

How to read this data

Life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and the country suicide rates come from WHO’s Global Health Observatory. These are modelled estimates that combine national data of varying quality, and they can differ from figures published by national statistics offices; the suicide rates are crude rates for everyone aged 70 and over, so they are affected by how many people in each country are in their late 80s and 90s, and by differences in how deaths are certified and coded. Country rates are best compared in broad terms rather than to the decimal point. The US suicide figures are national death registration statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics. The loneliness findings come from cohort studies in England and Norway and show associations, not cause and effect; the hazard ratios describe the relative rate of death during follow-up after adjustment for other factors. Evidence on men’s sheds is mostly qualitative or uncontrolled. The help-seeking evidence comes from Canada and covers adults of all ages. Where we have subtracted one published figure from another, as with years in less than full health, we say so. Evidence specific to older men in low- and middle-income countries is especially thin.

Use this data

Free to cite with attribution to Understanding Aging. Charities, carers' groups, campaigners and journalists are welcome to reuse these figures and charts. For the underlying figures as a spreadsheet, get in touch.

Important: This article summarises published research and statistics for general information. It is not medical, care or financial advice and cannot be used to diagnose, treat or predict anything about an individual. If you have concerns about your own or someone else's memory or health, please speak to a GP or another qualified health professional.

Sources

1. World Health Organization. Life expectancy at age 60 (years), indicator WHOSIS_000015, global and regional estimates, 2019–2023. Global Health Observatory, 2025. ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000015
2. Garnett MF, Zehner AM. Changes in Suicide Rates in the United States From 2023 to 2024. NCHS Data Brief No. 572. National Center for Health Statistics, 2026. cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db572.htm
3. World Health Organization. Crude suicide rates (per 100 000 population), indicator SDGSUICIDE, by country, age and sex. Global Health Observatory, 2025. ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/SDGSUICIDE
4. World Health Organization. Healthy life expectancy (HALE) at age 60 (years), indicator WHOSIS_000007. Global Health Observatory, 2025. ghoapi.azureedge.net/api/WHOSIS_000007
5. Thompson AE, Anisimowicz Y, Miedema B, Hogg W, Wodchis WP, Aubrey-Bassler K. The influence of gender and other patient characteristics on health care-seeking behaviour: a QUALICOPC study. BMC Family Practice, 2016. europepmc.org/article/MED/27036116
6. WHO Regional Office for Europe. Strategy on the health and well-being of men in the WHO European Region; and The health and well-being of men in the WHO European Region: better health through a gender approach. World Health Organization, 2018. who.int/europe/publications/i/item/WHO-EURO-2018-4209-43968-61973; companion report: who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289053532
7. World Health Organization. Suicide: fact sheet. World Health Organization, 2026. who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide
8. World Health Organization. Social connection linked to improved health and reduced risk of early death (WHO Commission on Social Connection). World Health Organization, 2025. who.int/news/item/30-06-2025-social-connection-linked-to-improved-heath-and-reduced-risk-of-early-death
9. Ratcliffe J, Galdas P, Kanaan M. Older men and loneliness: a cross-sectional study of sex differences in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. BMC Public Health, 2024. europepmc.org/article/MED/38308255
10. Aartsen M, Vangen H, Pavlidis G, Hansen T, Precupetu I. The unique and synergistic effects of social isolation and loneliness on 20-years mortality risks in older men and women. Frontiers in Public Health, 2024. europepmc.org/article/MED/39478752
11. Foettinger L, Albrecht BM, Altgeld T, et al. The Role of Community-Based Men’s Sheds in Health Promotion for Older Men: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review. American Journal of Men’s Health, 2022. europepmc.org/article/MED/35287514
12. Kelly D, Steiner A, Mason H, Teasdale S. Men’s Sheds: A conceptual exploration of the causal pathways for health and well-being. Health & Social Care in the Community, 2019. europepmc.org/article/MED/31206945
13. McGrath A, Murphy N, Egan T, Richardson N. Sheds for Life: health and wellbeing outcomes of a tailored community-based health promotion initiative for men’s sheds in Ireland. BMC Public Health, 2022. europepmc.org/article/MED/35987612
14. McGrath A, Murphy N, Egan T, Ormond G, Richardson N. An Economic Evaluation of ‘Sheds for Life’: A Community-Based Men’s Health Initiative for Men’s Sheds in Ireland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022. europepmc.org/article/MED/35206391