Women Still Outnumbered Men Among the Oldest, but Gap is Narrowing

The nation turns 250 this year and Americans’ median age — the age at which half of the population is younger and half is older — continues to rise, climbing from 39.2 in 2024 to 39.4 in 2025.

We use population estimates released today to examine changes in the U.S. age structure by sex from 2001, when the median age was 35.6, to 2025.

One striking shift is that while women continued to outnumber men at older ages, the gap between the sexes narrowed in the past 25 years (Figure 1).

"Mortality rates for older men have been decreasing faster than for women and, as a result, men's share of the older population has increased."

— Marc Perry, senior demographer in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Division

In 2001, there were 70.6 males for every 100 females age 65 and older. By 2025, the ratio had increased substantially to 81.6.

The gap among those age 80 and older narrowed even more dramatically — from 50.9 males per 100 females in 2001 to 68.3 in 2025.

"Mortality rates for older men have been decreasing faster than for women and, as a result, men's share of the older population has increased," said Marc Perry, senior demographer in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Division. "But the mortality gap between men and women is still there. In fact, the current mortality rate for men age 65 and older is roughly where the equivalent rate for women was 50 years ago."

According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the age-adjusted death rate for males age 65 and older was 8,285.0 per 100,000 people in 1970. By 2022, it had dropped to 5,205.7, a decline of 3,079 deaths per 100,000.

Female mortality also dropped, but not as rapidly. The death rate for females age 65 and older was 5,621.3 per 100,000 people in 1970 and 3,918.7 in 2022, a decline of 1,703 deaths per 100,000.

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