Gender disparities in life expectancy and mortality from preventable diseases in Latvia from 2000 to 2020

Although the life expectancy has increased significantly since 2000 in Latvia, it remains one of the lowest in the EU. In 2020, life expectancy at birth was 70.4 years for males and 79.7 for females. The gender gap of almost more than nine years in life expectancy far exceeds the EU average. In 2018, in the EU, males in Latvia had the highest standardised death rate for preventable diseases (548.9 per 100,000), more than three times exceeding this mortality rate for females (158.5 per 100,000). This study aimed to explore the gender differences in trends in life expectancy, and leading causes of preventable deaths in the EU were examined in Latvia from 2000 to 2020 for people under 75 years.