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 have a longer life span than men? And how does this benefit increase over time? The evidence isn't conclusive and we have only limited answers. We know there are biological, psychological, and environmental factors which play a significant role in women living longer than males, we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

It is known that women live longer than men, regardless of their weight. But this is not due to the fact that certain non-biological aspects have changed. What are these factors that have changed? 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 صبغ الشعر بالاسود (click through the up coming article) women. It is clear that every country is over the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl in all countries can expect to live longer than her brothers.

This chart illustrates that, while there is a female advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia, women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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The advantage women had in life expectancy was much lower in developed countries as compared to the present.
Let's see how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below shows men and women's life expectancies at the birth in the US in the years 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

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

And second, there is an ever-widening gap: female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be very modest however it increased dramatically in the past century.

You can verify that these points are also applicable to other countries with information by clicking on the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.