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. Why do women live longer than men and why does this benefit increase in the past? We only have a few clues and the evidence is not sufficient to support an informed conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors that all play a role in the longevity of women over males, we aren't sure what percentage each factor plays in.

We are aware that women are living longer than men, تحاميل مهبلية regardless of weight. However it is not because of certain non-biological factors 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 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 all countries are above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from any country can expect to live longer than her brother.

It is interesting to note that although the female advantage is present everywhere, global differences are significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan, تحاميل مهبلية the difference is less that half a year.

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In rich countries the longevity advantage for women used to be smaller
Let's see how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female lifespans when they were born in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Both genders in America live longer than they used to a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, there's a widening gap: The female advantage in life expectancy used be very small however it increased dramatically during the last century.

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