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 so more than men do today and how does this benefit increase in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and ابر التخسيس we're only able to provide incomplete answers. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral, and environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than males, it isn't clear the extent to which each factor plays a role.

Independently of the exact amount of weight, we are aware that a large portion of the reason women live longer than men but not previously, has to be due to the fact that several fundamental non-biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Some are more complex. 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. As you can see, all countries are above the diagonal line of parity - this means in all countries baby girls can expect to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

The chart below shows that even though women enjoy an advantage everywhere, cross-country differences can be significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men; in Bhutan the gap is less than half each year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was much lower in developed countries that it is today.
Let's look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows the gender-based and female-specific life expectancy at the time of birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men and women in America have longer lives 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 female advantage in life expectancy was once tiny but it has risen significantly with time.

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