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 does this benefit increase in the past? The evidence is limited and we're only able to provide partial answers. We recognize that biological, behavioral and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women live longer than men; However, we're not sure how significant the impact of each one of these factors is.

In spite of how much amount, we can say that at a minimum, the reason women live longer than men today and العاب زوجية not in the past, is to do with the fact that a number of important non-biological aspects have changed. These factors are changing. 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 every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl from any country can be expected to live for longer than her brothers.

Interestingly, this chart shows that the advantage of women exists across all countries, the difference between countries is huge. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan there is a difference of less than half a calendar year.

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In the richer countries, the longevity advantage for women was previously smaller.
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below illustrates the gender-based and female-specific life expectancy when they were born in the US between 1790-2014. Two distinct features stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women in America live longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is growing: Although the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was quite small however, it has grown significantly in the past.

By selecting 'Change Country' on the chart, you will be able to determine if these two points also apply to other countries that have available data: Sweden, France and العاب زوجية the UK.