LONDON, April 7 (UPI) -- For the first year in human history, in 2006, almost all women worldwide can expect to outlive men, says the British Medical Journal.
"We tend to forget that in many countries of the world women could expect, until recently, to live fewer years than men and that maternal death in particular remains a big killer," wrote Danny Dorling, of the University of Sheffield, and colleagues.
"The reason for the increase in female life expectancy has got to be improvements in care during pregnancy and the presence of a midwife or other skilled attendant at birth.
"There is still a long way to go but things have improved enough to put women ahead everywhere."
In Europe, men last outlived women in the Netherlands in 1860 and in Italy in 1889; however, women's life expectancy has long exceeded males' in Sweden since 1751, Denmark since 1835, England and Wales since 1841. But in western European countries the life expectancy gap between women and men has been narrowing.
