Overview
- National statistics for 2024 report life expectancy of 78.5 years for men versus 83.2 for women, with male mortality more than double among 15‑ to 34‑year‑olds.
- Cardiovascular disease and cancers dominate male deaths, including 65,435 from ischaemic heart disease and 26,465 from lung cancer in 2024.
- Hospitals treated 169,800 men for alcohol‑related disorders compared with 62,900 women, underscoring a major preventable burden.
- Bavaria’s health minister Judith Gerlach urges greater uptake of covered checks, recommending annual prostate cancer screening from 45 and a one‑time abdominal aortic aneurysm exam at 65, alongside cardiovascular, kidney, colorectal, diabetes and biennial skin‑cancer screenings.
- Experts attribute the gap chiefly to behavior and social factors such as smoking, alcohol use, low preventive‑care participation and hazardous work, with Saxony showing a roughly six‑year male‑female gap.