Median/modal death ages of European males were near-constant for ~30 years.

Background. Longevity is of considerable interest. Collation of recent data after World War II by the Human Mortality Database allowed Analyses, previously unattainable, of modal death-ages for sufficient numbers of large European cohorts. Objective. to track all-cause "bulk" mortality for both sexes. Methods. The only high-quality, large-number Lexis data available were pooled from nine European countries and raw-data modes (and means/medians ≥60 years old (y)), plus thin-plate-spline averages, were analyzed. Results. Here we show that over a period of ~30 years (cohorts 1880-~1910) dramatic sex differences existed between raw-death-age changes: male modal ages being near-constant (77.2y ± standard deviation 1.58y); female modal ages increased. For available cohorts (1880-1904) male raw medians were exactly constant (76y); male means showed slight increase (0.0193y/year; compare female: 0.146y/year). Male deaths ≥60 ≤76y compared with >76y, as percentages of total, were near-equal, whereas in females the former decreased. Only after ~1910 did male modal ages rapidly increase (other averages not calculable). Conclusions. It might have been expected that death ages would increase for everyone over this period, but results indicated otherwise. It is commonly assumed that improved environment generally translates into increased longevity for everyone, but females might have responded more than the bulk of adult males during this period.