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. What makes women live longer than men and how does this benefit increase in the past? There isn't much evidence and we're only able to provide partial answers. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological as well as environmental factors that all play a role in the longevity of women over males, we aren't sure how much each one contributes.

In spite of the weight, we know that at least a portion of the reason why women live so much longer than men do today but not previously, is to do with the fact that certain fundamental non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that are changing? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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, علامات الحمل بولد; https://glorynote.com, 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 the newborn girl is likely to live longer than a new boy.1

Interestingly, علامات الحمل بولد this chart shows that although the female advantage exists across all countries, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the difference is just half a year.

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In wealthy countries, the advantage of women in longevity used to be smaller
Let's examine how the gender advantage in longevity has changed over time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancy at birth in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two points stand out.

First, there's an upward trend. and women in the US have a much longer life span longer than they did 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 quite small however, it has grown significantly over time.

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