Why Do Women Live 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 how does this benefit increase in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we have only incomplete answers. We know there are behavioral, biological and environmental variables that all play a role in women's longevity more than men, we do not know how much each one contributes.

In spite of the precise number of pounds, we know that at least a portion of the reason women live so much longer than men in the present but not previously, is to do with the fact that a number of fundamental non-biological factors have changed. What are these changing factors? 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 over the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl in every country can anticipate to live longer than her older brother.

This chart illustrates that, العاب زوجية although there is a women's advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women are 10 years older than men. In Bhutan the difference is just half one year.

__S.17__
__S.19__
In wealthy countries, the women's advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below illustrates the gender-based and female-specific life expectancy at birth in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women in America live longer than they used to 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

And second, there is an increasing gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used to be very modest however it increased dramatically over the course of the last century.

By selecting 'Change Country' on the chart, you can verify that these two points are applicable to the other countries having available information: Sweden, France and العاب زوجية the UK.