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 have a longer life span than men? And how is this difference growing over time? The evidence is limited and we're left with only partial answers. We recognize that biological, behavioral and ابر التخسيس environmental factors contribute to the fact that women are healthier than men; However, ابر التخسيس we're not sure what the contribution of each one of these factors is.

In spite of how much weight, we know that at least part of the reason women live so much longer than men in the present however not as in the past, has to be due to the fact that several key non-biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Other are more complicated. 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 , this means that in all countries that a baby girl can be expected to live longer than a newborn boy.1

This chart is interesting in that it shows that while the female advantage exists everywhere, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than males; while in Bhutan the gap is just half an hour.

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The advantage women had in life expectancy was smaller in rich countries than it is now.
Let's now look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed with time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy when they were born in the US in the years 1790 until 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Men and women living in America are living longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy was once tiny, it has increased substantially over time.

It is possible to verify that these principles are also applicable to other countries with data by selecting the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.