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 much longer than men today and why is this difference growing over time? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only some answers. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and environmental factors that play an integral role in women's longevity more than males, we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of the weight, we know that at least a portion of the reason women live longer than men and not in the past, is to be due to the fact that several fundamental non-biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and علامات الحمل بولد 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, علامات الحمل بولد 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 line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her brother.

This chart shows that, although there is a women's advantage across all countries, differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men, while in Bhutan the gap is less than half each year.

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In the richer countries, the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
We will now examine how the advantage of women in terms of longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows the gender-based and female-specific life expectancy at the time of birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is widening: While the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be very small, it has increased substantially over time.

By selecting 'Change Country' on the chart, you are able to check that these two points also apply to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.