If we look at how the average life expectancy of Eastern European men (67.4 years in 2000) ranks against that of men in other regions of the world, only two regions score lower (Sub-Saharan Africa at 50.13 and South and Southeast Asia at 65.3). Western European men live almost ten years longer than their Eastern European counterparts, wheras the gap for women in the two regions is just under six years. Ours would not be the first study to show that Eastern European men are at a heightened risk of mortality.