Why 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. Why do women live much longer than men today and why is this difference growing in the past? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence isn't sufficient to draw a definitive conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors which all play a part in women who live longer than males, it isn't clear how much each factor contributes.

In spite of the precise amount, we can say that at a minimum, the reason women live so much longer than men today and not previously, is to have to do with the fact that some fundamental 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. 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 women. We can see that every country is above the diagonal parity line - it means that in all nations that a baby girl can be expected to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

Interestingly, this chart shows that although the female advantage exists everywhere, اضيق وضعية للجماع (glorynote.com) the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women are 10 years older than men, while in Bhutan the difference is less than half each year.

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In rich countries the longevity advantage for women was not as great.
We will now examine how the gender advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at birth in the US in the years 1790 to 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Both genders in America live longer than they used to a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was tiny but it has risen significantly over time.

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