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. What is the reason women live more than men do today, and why has this advantage increased in the past? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only some solutions. Although we know that there are biological, psychological and environmental variables which all play a part in the longevity of women over males, it isn't clear what percentage each factor plays in.

We are aware that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. But it is not due to the fact that certain non-biological factors have changed. These 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, 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 over the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl in all countries can anticipate to live longer than her older brother.

The chart below shows that while there is a female advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries could be significant. In Russia women are 10 years older than men; in Bhutan the gap is less than half a year.

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In rich countries the advantage of women in longevity used to be smaller
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below shows male and زيوت تطويل الشعر female life expectancy at the birth in the US in the years 1790-2014. Two points stand out.

There is an upward trend: Men and women in the US live much, much longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The second is that there is a widening gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be quite small, but it grew substantially over the course of the last century.

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