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's the main reason women are more likely to live longer than men? Why is this difference growing as time passes? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only some answers. We are aware that behavioral, biological and environmental factors all play a role in the fact that women have longer lives than men, However, we're not sure how significant the impact of each of these factors is.

In spite of how much number of pounds, we know that at least part of the reason why women live so much longer than men but not in the past, is to do with the fact that certain key non-biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Certain 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. We can see that all countries are over the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in every country can expect to live longer than her older brother.

The chart below shows that although there is a women's advantage across all countries, differences between countries can be substantial. In Russia women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan, the difference is just half a year.

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In wealthy 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 men and women's life expectancies at birth in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and العاب زوجية men in the United States live longer than they used to 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is getting wider: Although the advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was extremely small, it has increased substantially with time.

You can check if these principles are also applicable to other countries that have data by clicking the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.