Why Are Women Living 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 reason why women are more likely to live longer than men? And how is this difference growing as time passes? The evidence isn't conclusive and we have only limited answers. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and environmental factors that all play a role in women living longer than men, we don't know the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of how much amount, we can say that at least a portion of the reason why women live longer than men in the present however not as in the past, has to have to do with the fact that certain significant non-biological elements have changed. These factors are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, العاب زوجية like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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, العاب زوجية 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. As we can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line , this means in all countries that a baby girl can be expected to live longer than a new boy.1

This chart is interesting in that it shows that, while the advantage for women exists everywhere, the global differences are significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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The female advantage in terms of life expectancy was lower in the richer countries that it is today.
Let's examine how the advantage of women in longevity has changed with time. The next chart compares the male and female lifespans when they were born in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two aspects stand out.

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

The gap is growing: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be quite small It has significantly increased over time.

By selecting 'Change Country from the chart, confirm that the two points are also applicable to the other countries having available information: Sweden, France and the UK.