Why Do Women Have Longer Lives 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 live longer than men? And why does this benefit increase in the past? We only have partial evidence and the evidence is not strong enough to make an informed conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological as well as environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than men, we do not know the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of the precise amount, we can say that at a minimum, the reason women live longer than men do today and not in the past, is to have to do with the fact that certain key non-biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? 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. We can see that every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl from any country can expect to live longer than her younger brother.

This chart shows that, although there is a women's advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be significant. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan there is a difference of only half a year.

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The female advantage in terms of life expectancy was lower in rich countries as compared to the present.
Let's now look at how the advantage of women in terms of longevity has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the gender-based and female-specific life expectancy at the birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men in America have longer lives than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is growing: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be quite small, زيوت تطويل الشعر it has increased substantially over time.

By selecting 'Change Country in the chart, you will be able to verify that these two points are applicable to other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.