Why Do Women Live Longer Than Men

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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 more than men do today and why has this advantage increased over time? The evidence isn't conclusive and we're left with only partial answers. We know there are behavioral, biological and environmental variables that play an integral role in women living longer than men, we don't know how much each factor contributes.

In spite of how much number of pounds, we know that at least part of the reason women live so much longer than men in the present, but not previously, ابر التخسيس is to relate to 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. Certain 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. It is clear that all countries are over the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in all countries can anticipate to live longer than her younger brother.

The chart above shows that although the female advantage exists in all countries, cross-country differences are large. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males; while in Bhutan the difference is just half each year.

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In rich countries the female advantage in longevity was not as great.
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at the birth in the US between 1790-2014. Two points stand out.

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.

Second, the gap is widening: While the advantage of women in life expectancy was once very small but it has risen significantly over time.

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