Why Do Women Have Longer Lives 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 how has this advantage increased in the past? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only incomplete answers. We are aware that behavioral, biological and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women are healthier than men; but we don't know exactly how strong the relative contribution to each of these variables is.

In spite of the precise weight, we know that at a minimum, the reason why women live longer than men in the present, ماذا يحدث بين الزوجين في الحمام بالصور but not in the past, is to do with the fact that some significant non-biological elements have changed. These factors are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are others that are more intricate. 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 above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her older brother.

It is interesting to note that while the female advantage exists in all countries, country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women are 10 years older than men; in Bhutan the difference is just half an hour.

__S.17__
__S.19__
In the richer countries, the longevity advantage for women used to be smaller
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancy when they were born in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two aspects stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Men as well as women in the US are living much, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy was once tiny however, it has grown significantly over time.

By selecting 'Change Country from the chart, check that these two points apply to other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.