According to the report “Life expectancy, duration spent in retirement” co-authored by Virginie Andrieux and Cécile Chantel, of the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES), we are not all equal when it comes to life expectancy once we retire. To write this report, DREES researchers studied a panel of 35,000 people born in 1942 to calculate life expectancy at age 55. According to this report, “retired women can expect to live 6.4 years longer than men. Male former executives have an increased life expectancy of 3.3 years compared to that of former workers. And women former executives, 2.3 years compared to former workers. »
“These differences are due to different exposures to the risks of accidents and occupational diseases from one category to another, but also disparities in terms of behavior with regard to health and living conditions. Conversely, a poor state of health can be detrimental to a professional career and prevent access to the most favored statuses,” explain Virginie Andrieux and Cécile Chantel.
Differences also exist according to the type of career: according to this study, short careers are associated with reduced life expectancies (by 1.4 years for men and 0.6 years for women. “But for men, a shortened career is often explained by health problems or disability.” add the authors of the study. “For women this link is less obvious because short careers are often due to work interruptions or part-time work related to the education of children”.
