Ljubljana - The life expectancy of men in Slovenia dropped by 0.9 years last year compared to the year before, the Statistics Office said ahead of International Men's Day, 19 November. However, men still assess their health more positively than women.

In Slovenia, 1,058,000 out of the 2,107,000 inhabitants are men, with Slovenia being one of four EU countries, next to Sweden, Luxembourg and Malta, where men outnumber women.

In 2020, there were on average 99.4 women per 100 men, while the EU average is 104.7 women per 100 men.

In the first six months of the year, the average age of men in Slovenia was 42 and the most frequent name for a male was Franc. Luka was the most popular name for a newborn baby boy for the 21st year in a row.

As many as 92% of men aged between 20 and 24 have finished at least secondary school, while the EU average is 82%.

In most EU countries, female students are dominant in tertiary education. In Slovenia, the share of male students was at 42% in 2020, while it was at 46% in the EU.

Still, there were 36% of men in the 25-34 age group in Slovenia who have finished at least tertiary education, while the share in the EU is 35%.

In Slovenia, men particularly dominate in ITC professions, where 90% of employees are male. In the EU the share is 83%.

Last year, 81% of men were active on the labour market, which is one percentage point above the EU average.

The average age of men who died in 2020 was 75.3 years and data show that men have lower life expectancy than women. The life expectancy of men born in 2020 was 77.8, while for those born in 2019 it was 78.7.

Nevertheless, men assess their health more positively than women. About 70% of males aged at least 16 assessed their health as very good or good, which is five percentage points more than women. In the EU the share was at 71%.