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A 35-year-old male executive can expect to live on average 5.3 years longer than a worker of the same age and a female executive 3.4 years longer than a female worker, according to an INSEE study published on Tuesday.
“The nature of the professions practiced partly explains these differences (…). Executives are less exposed to professional risks (accidents and illnesses at work, difficult working conditions, etc.)“, underlines statistician Nathalie Blanpain.
Moreover, their lifestyles differ: “risky health behaviors, reduced recourse to and access to care, and obesity are less frequent among executives than among workers” she notes.
Finally, explains the researcher from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, social position can “be the consequence of poor health“.
Since the 1990s, the life expectancy gap between managers and workers has narrowed for men. It was seven years over the period 1991-1999. On the other hand, it has increased slightly for women, from 2.6 to 3.4 years.
Among men, executives are those who live the longest beyond 35 years: 48.9 years, which would lead them to live on average up to 83.9 years.
Next come intermediate occupations (47.4 years), farmers (47.2 years), craftsmen and traders (46.4 years), employees (45.1 years) and workers (43.6 years). Those who are inactive at 35, who are often so due to health problems or disability, live an additional 34 years on average, or up to 69 years.
Among women, life expectancies at 35 years of age for different social categories are relatively close, between 50 and 53 years, except for workers (49.6 years) and inactive women (45.8).
Life expectancy for men increases with the level of education. Thus, at 35, a graduate can expect to live on average two years longer than a high school graduate, 3.6 years longer than a CAP or BEP graduate, and eight years longer than a man without a diploma.
A female graduate can expect to live 5.4 years longer than a non-graduate.
Regardless of their social category, women live longer than men. The life expectancy of female workers is even slightly higher than that of male executives (0.7 years more).
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