Why Are Women Living 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 why is this difference growing in the past? The evidence is limited and we have only partial answers. Although we know that there are biological, psychological and environmental factors which all play a part in the longevity of women over men, we don't know how much each one contributes.

It is known that women live longer than men, regardless of weight. But, this is not because of certain non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that are changing? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, العاب زوجية 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, every country is above the diagonal parity line ; it means that in all nations that a baby girl can be expected to live for العاب زوجية longer than a newborn boy.1

This chart illustrates that, although there is a women's advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women have a longer life span than men. In Bhutan the gap is less than half an hour.

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In rich countries the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The following chart shows the gender-based and female-specific life expectancy at the time of birth in the US during the period 1790 until 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men and women living in America are living 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 increasing: While the advantage of women in life expectancy was very small however, it has grown significantly over 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.