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. Why do women live so more than men do today, and why does this benefit increase in the past? There is only limited evidence and the evidence isn't strong enough to make an informed conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and environmental factors which all play a part in women living longer than men, we do not know how much each factor contributes.

In spite of the precise amount, العاب زوجية we can say that at least part of the reason women live longer than men in the present but not previously, has to do with the fact that some important non-biological aspects have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others are more complicated. 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 parity line , which means that in every country baby girls can expect to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

This chart illustrates that, while there is a female advantage in all countries, the differences across countries could be significant. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than males; while in Bhutan the gap is less than half each year.

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The advantage for women in terms of life expectancy was lower in developed countries that it is today.
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancies at the birth in the US in the years 1790-2014. Two points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The second is that there is an increase in the gap between men and women: female advantage in terms of life expectancy used to be very modest however, it has increased significantly over the last century.

By selecting 'Change Country in the chart, you can verify that these two points apply to the other countries with available data: Sweden, France and العاب زوجية the UK.