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Men really do forget more than women, according to a new study.

The latest study involved data from over 48,000 participants who were asked nine questions about how well people think they remember as part of a large longitudinal population health study conducted in mid-Norway called HUNT3.

Participants were asked about their memory, how often they had problems remembering things, whether they had problems remembering names and dates, if they remembered what they did one year ago, and if they could remember details of conversations.

The study revealed that men are so absent-minded, even scientists are surprised by how much they forget.

"It was surprising to see that men forget more than women. This has not been documented before. It was also surprising to see that men are just as forgetful whether they are 30 or 60 years old. The results were unambiguous," researcher Professor Jostein Holmen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim said in a news release.

"We have speculated a lot about why men report more frequent problems with remembering than women do, but have not been able to find an explanation. This is still an unsolved mystery," said Holmen.

The study revealed that women have less trouble remembering than men. However, women found it hardest to remember names and dates. While previous studies revealed that memory problems accelerate with age, the latest study reveals that the women forget just as much whether they are 30 or 50 years old.

The findings also revealed that more educated people forget less than less educated people.

Researchers also found that people who suffer anxiety or depression forget more than other people.

The findings are published in the journal BMC Psychology.