PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Henry Herrera
Phone: +1-301-801-0608
Email: info@menandboys.net
Data Reveals Widespread and Major Disparities Affecting Men and Boys in Panama
December 30, 2025 – In Panama, men and boys face stark and persistent inequalities that remain largely absent from the national conversation, despite clear evidence across education, health, safety, and homelessness.
Education:
Women now significantly outnumber men in Panama’s higher education system. They represent 60% of university enrollment and approximately 65% of undergraduate graduates (1)(2). At the tertiary level, the female-to-male student ratio is 1.38 (3), with gross enrollment rates of 66.3% for women compared to 41.6% for men (4). Educational attainment reflects the same pattern: 28% of women obtain at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to just 17% of men (5).
Health:
Health outcomes reveal a pronounced gender gap. Women in Panama have a life expectancy of 82.56 years, compared to 76.65 years for men (6). Adult mortality rates further underscore this disparity, with 116.6 deaths per 1,000 adult men versus 65.3 per 1,000 adult women (7).
Child labor:
Boys account for 74% of children engaged in child labor, compared to 26% girls, reflecting a significant imbalance in early exposure to hazardous work conditions (8).
Homicide:
Men face dramatically higher risks of violent death. The homicide rate for men stands at 21.71 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 1.7 per only 100,000 for women (9).
Suicide:
Suicide rates show a similarly troubling pattern. Men have a suicide mortality rate of 5.6 per 100,000 population, compared to 1.0 per 100,000 among women (10)(11).
Homelessness:
Street homelessness in Panama City is overwhelmingly male. Approximately 93% of people living rough are men, while women comprise about 7%, highlighting a severe gender disparity in extreme socioeconomic vulnerability (12).
Conclusion:
These data demand recognition and action so that men and boys in Panama are no longer overlooked in efforts to achieve genuine gender equality.
The International Council for Men and Boys (ICMB) is a non-governmental organization that is working to celebrate the contributions of men to society and to end the 12 sex disparities that affect men and boys around the world. ICMB has conducted analyses of male disadvantage in over 50 countries around the world. These analyses are available here: https://www.menandboys.net/country/
Links:
1.https://borgenproject.org/girls-education-in-panama/
2.https://portal.amelica.org/ameli/journal/226/2261006005/html/?utm
3.https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Panama/Female_to_male_ratio_students_tertiary_level_educa/
4.https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/indicator/se-ter-enrr?gender=male
7.https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/indicator/sp-dyn-amrt?gender=male
8.https://www.unicef.org/panama/sites/unicef.org.panama/files/2019-08/Unicef_Panorama_2018.pdf?utm
9.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide_statistics_by_gender
10.https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.SUIC.MA.P5