International men's day

From 1999 on, the International Men's Day is celebrated every year on 19 November in over 70 countries worldwide. On this day the international community focuses on the health issues of men and boys, on improving gender equality and on highlighting male role models. This is an occasion to celebrate the achievements and contributions of men, especially their contribution to community, family, marriage and child care.

Among the population aged up to 62 in Slovenia men prevail over women

On 1 January 2015 the population in Slovenia exceeded 2 million (2,062,874). The gender ratio was quite even: 49.6% men and 50.4% women. Even though in their total number women outnumbered men, among people aged up to 62 men were more numerous than women. Every year more boys than girls are born and more men than women immigrate to Slovenia. Among those who immigrated to Slovenia and were aged 25-59 the share of men was 63.4% and of women 36.6%.

At death men are younger than women

At the age of 63, the ratio between men and women turns in favour of women. Namely, at death men are on average younger than women. The average age of a man at death in Slovenia in 2014 was 72.7 years or 8 years lower than that of a woman at death. The most frequent causes of death in men were neoplasms - cancerous diseases (in 35.8% of men) and diseases of the circulatory system (in 33.4% of men).

The International Men's Day coincides with the popular charity movement known as Movember, which aims to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and other male cancers, and to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. Besides annual check-ups, the Movember Foundation encourages men to be aware of family history of cancer and to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Its motto is “change the face of men's health”. In Slovenia one in nine men who died of cancer in 2014 died due to prostate cancer or testicular cancer.

Almost 27,000 fathers live alone with their children

The International Men's Day is an event which focuses also on the contribution of men in view of the family and upbringing of children. On 1 January 2015 half of the men aged up to 31 still lived in their primary families in Slovenia, while those aged 31+ more often lived alone, as partners and/or as fathers. At that time 312,983 fathers lived with their children, almost 9% of them lived alone with their children. Most of the fathers living alone with their children were aged 50-54 (12.5%). At birth of their child men were on average 3 years older than women; in 2014 the average age of a father at birth of a child was 33.4 years.

Fathers are increasingly present at the birth of their children

According to the data of the Slovene National Institute for Public Health (NIJZ), the number of fathers who are present at the birth of their children keeps increasing. In 2002, 60.7% of fathers in Slovenia were present at birth; by 2012 the share grew to 77.3%.

Yet the number of fathers present at the birth of their children greatly differs among the statistical regions in the country. In Pomurska on average 45.8% of fathers attended all (i.e. not only first) births of their children and in Notranjsko-kraška 89.6%.

According to the 2012 data (see Chart 1) fathers were more frequently present at first births (81% of fathers) than at all the subsequent births (74% of fathers).