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 is the reason women have a longer life span than men? Why has this advantage gotten larger as time passes? The evidence is limited and we're left with only incomplete solutions. Although we know that there are biological, psychological, and environmental factors which play a significant role in women's longevity more than males, it isn't clear how much each factor contributes.

In spite of the weight, افضل كريم للشعر we know that at least part of the reason why women live longer than men today, but not in the past, has to do with the fact that several key non-biological factors have changed. What are these new factors? 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. We can see that all countries are above the diagonal parity line - this means in all countries the newborn girl is likely to live for longer than a new boy.1

This chart shows that, although there is a women's advantage in all countries, the differences across countries are often significant. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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In wealthy countries, the women's advantage in longevity was not as great.
Let's examine how the gender advantage in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart shows the male and female lifespans 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 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.

The gap is growing: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was once tiny but it has risen significantly over time.

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