How Can Mongolia Address the Gender Gap in Life Expectancy?

The Government of Mongolia is committed to reducing the gender gap in life expectancy. Reducing the gender gap in life expectancy is an explicit objective of Mongolia's Cross-Sectoral Strategic Plan for Promoting Gender Equality in Mongolia (2022-31). The first plan to reduce the disparity in life expectancy was adopted from 2020 to 2022; however, only about 60 percent of the plan was implemented. Learning from the experience of the first plan, an interdisciplinary Working Group with representatives from different governmental and nongovernmental organizations prepared a second interdisciplinary plan to reduce the disparities in life expectancy between men and women. The Prime Minister of Mongolia approved the plan in May 2024, covering the period from 2024 to 2027. The report is structured into three sections. Chapter 1 of the report provides an updated diagnostic of gender differences in mortality and summarizes the key underlying drivers of the gender gap in life expectancy identified in previous work (World Bank 2020). Based on this diagnostic, four types of policy and program interventions are selected for the review of evidence in Chapter 2, including interventions to reduce tobacco and alcohol consumption, interventions to increase uptake of primary health care, suicide prevention interventions, and interventions to address gender norms. Finally, chapter 3 highlights the way forward, including a summary of evidence-based recommendations and global evidence on the costs of implementing them