# Project 1

> **NIH NIH P01** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $191,679

## Abstract

This Project focuses on the range of male-female mortality differences. The World Health
Organization announced in 2006 that, for humans, female life expectancy exceeded the male level in all the
world's countries. It is sometimes thought that this was always the case and that the gap is roughly the
same across countries. Furthermore, it is sometimes asserted that female life expectancies exceed male
levels for almost all species. The truth is more complicated.
 The research in this Project relies on lifetables that can be found in the literature and on websites or
that we propose to estimate. The lifetables will be analyzed to document the range of male-female mortality
differences across human populations over time and place. The Project will also document the range of
male-female mortality differences in nonhuman vertebrates by analysing sex-specific mortality data for
about 600 species of vertebrates (especially mammals and birds). It includes:
(1) An analysis of about 3,000 pairs of sex-specific lifetables for human populations over the past 250
years. This will shed new light on the range of differences between male and female life expectancies as
well as on male-female age-specific death rates and identify the populations with the biggest and smallest
differences. Factors contributing to the gaps will be investigated.
(2) Estimation of lifetables for human experience over the past 10,000 years based on skeletal data. With
the new (re-assessed) data, we will test the hypothesis that from the Neolithic until the late Middle Ages
male life expectancy was higher than female life expectancy. Together with the findings from our analyses
of human lifetables, these findings will be of importance in providing a better understanding of the
development of human male-female longevity differences.
(3) A study of sex-specific lifetables and life-expectancies for some 600 vertebrate species. This will reveal
the range of the relative life-expectancy gap across species of vertebrates, especially mammals and birds,
and not only show how universal the purported female advantage is, but also shed new light on the species
characteristics that determine the size of the gap.
(4) The development and application of statistical software to estimate age-patterns of mortality from
problematic datasets, including human skeletal data, data on human hunter-gatherers, and data for other
species across the tree of life.
(5) Analysis of data on causes of deaths for males vs. females in humans, in other mammals and in birds—
in the wild and in zoos.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9922225
- **Project number:** 5P01AG031719-10
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** James W. Vaupel
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $191,679
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9922225

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9922225, Project 1 (5P01AG031719-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-14 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9922225. Licensed CC0.

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