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 makes women live longer than men and why is this difference growing in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we only have some solutions. We are aware that behavioral, biological and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women are healthier than men; however, we do not know what the contribution of each of these factors is.

We know that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. But, this is not due to the fact that certain non-biological aspects have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Certain are more complicated. For 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 over the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl in every country can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

This chart illustrates that, although there is a women's advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be significant. In Russia women are 10 years older than men, while in Bhutan the gap is less than half each year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was smaller in developed countries than it is now.
Let's examine how the female advantage in longevity has changed with time. The following chart shows male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two specific points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Both genders in the United States live longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the advantage of women in life expectancy was extremely small but it has risen significantly with time.

It is possible to verify that these points are also applicable to other countries that have data by clicking the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and اوضاع الجماع Sweden.