
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 11, 1990                   TAG: 9004110104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

MEN CATCHING UP TO WOMEN IN NUMBERS

Men are catching up, at least in numbers. The Census Bureau said Tuesday that the number of men grew faster than the number of women in the '80s, something that hasn't happened since the first decade of this century.

Death rates for men declined more rapidly than for women, extending male lifespans and allowing their population to increase more rapidly than women, the new study disclosed.

Cancer deaths increased among women while dropping for men, pointing to increased smoking by women beginning in the 1960s as a likely factor in the change.

"The male population outgrew the female population in every age group under age 85," Frederick W. Hollmann of the Census Bureau reported.

From 1980 to 1989 the number of men in the nation increased by 10,557,000, while the female population grew 10,448,000, the bureau reported.

Even so, women continue to outnumber men in America, 127 million to 121 million, the report showed.

The last decade in which the number of men increased faster than women was 1900-1910, the study noted.

The balance of population is determined not only by the number of people born but by the number of years they remain alive, explained Hollmann.

More male babies are born than females, he pointed out, but "generally a sort of equilibrium is reached since males don't live as long as females."

by CNB