Not only are male mortality rates at later ages dropping, they are dropping faster than is the case for women.Rudzhan Nagiev/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
During this holiday season, it is heartening to know that the proportion of women who face becoming widows in their early retirement years is on the decline. The chart shows that compared with 25 years ago, more men are surviving into their 70s and 80s. Not only are male mortality rates at later ages dropping, they are dropping faster than is the case for women.
In 1999, there were only 70 per cent as many men age 75 to 79 as there were women in that age group. By 2024, the ratio has grown to 88 per cent. In the case of the 85-89 age group, the change is even more dramatic as the ratio of men to women rose from 47 per cent to 69 per cent.
These changing ratios have at least two important implications. First, the additional cost for a married man to buy a joint and survivor annuity should be dropping. Such an annuity pays the surviving wife a regular income for the rest of her life if the husband dies first, but husbands are not dying off as young as they used to. Second, wives and husbands should be nice to one another, since they will be together longer.
Frederick Vettese is former chief actuary of Morneau Shepell and author of the PERC retirement calculator (perc-pro.ca)
