Why Do Women Live Longer Than Men

Everywhere in the world women live longer than men - but this was not always the case. The available data from rich countries shows that women didn't live longer than men in the 19th century. What's the main reason women are more likely to live longer than men? And how has this advantage gotten larger as time passes? We only have a few clues and the evidence is not sufficient to support an absolute conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than males, it isn't clear how much each factor contributes.

In spite of the precise amount of weight, we are aware that a large portion of the reason women live longer than men do today, but not previously, has to be due to the fact that several significant non-biological elements have changed. These are the factors that are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Other are more complicated. For علامات الحمل بولد example, there is evidence that in rich countries the female advantage increased in part because infectious diseases used to affect women disproportionately a century ago, so advances in medicine that reduced the long-term health burden from infectious diseases, especially for survivors, ended up raising women's longevity disproportionately.

Everywhere in the world women tend to live longer than men
The first chart below shows life expectancy at birth for men and women. It is clear that every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl in all countries can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

This chart is interesting in that it shows that while the female advantage is present everywhere, difference between countries is huge. In Russia, women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of less that half a year.

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The female advantage in life expectancy was much lower in countries with higher incomes than it is today.
Let's examine how the advantage of women in terms of longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US from 1790 until 2014. Two areas stand out.

First, there's an upward trend. Men and women in the US are living much, much longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is growing: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy was once tiny however, it has grown significantly with time.

You can confirm that these principles are also applicable to other countries with data by clicking on the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and علامات الحمل بولد Sweden.