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 makes women live longer than men and why is this difference growing in the past? We only have a few clues and the evidence is not strong enough to make an unambiguous conclusion. We know that behavioral, العاب زوجية biological and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women are healthier than men; However, we're not sure how significant the impact of each factor is.

We know that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. But it is not due to the fact that certain biological factors have changed. These factors are changing. 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. As you can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line , this means that in all countries baby girls can expect to live longer than a new boy.1

This graph shows that while there is a female advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the difference is just half an hour.

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The female advantage in life expectancy was less in developed countries than it is now.
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The next chart plots male and female life expectancies at birth in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two distinct points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend: Men as well as women in the US live a lot, much longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the female advantage in life expectancy used to be tiny but it has risen significantly over time.

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