Vienna - Austrian women on average live almost six years
longer than men, but are more prone to a lonely old age, Austria's
statistics office said on Friday.
In 2006, the average life expectancy of Austrian women was 83
years, compared with 77 years for men.
'Women are programmed for constant strain, men for peak
performance over a short period of time,' Gabriela Petrovic of the
statistics institute said.
However, more than 38 per cent of women between 70 and 74 live
alone, but only 15 per cent of males in the same age bracket. The
situation is more pronounced in over 75 age group - 49 per cent of
women and 22 of men per cent are single.
Among younger people, the statistics are upside down: women wed
earlier, while men stayed single until later in life.
Analysts expect the life expectancy to grow continuously, but
believe the male-female gap will narrow slightly to five years by
2030. Women can then can expect to celebrate their 86th birthdays.
Women remained disadvantaged in Austria's job market, the study
said, earning only 74 per cent of an average male income. Only 31 per
cent of leading positions were filled with women.
In the education sector, women university graduates overtook
their male colleagues. However, there was still a significant lack of
female university teachers 14 per cent and the share of women in
technical fields also remained low.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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