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. What's the main reason women live longer than men? And how has this advantage gotten larger over time? The evidence is limited and we're only able to provide partial solutions. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological and environmental factors which play a significant role in women who live longer than males, it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

We are aware that women live longer than men, regardless of their weight. But this is not due to the fact that certain non-biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, 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, especially for صبغ الشعر بالاسود 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 from any country can expect to live longer than her brother.

The chart below shows that even though women enjoy an advantage everywhere, cross-country differences can be significant. In Russia women are 10 years older than males; while in Bhutan the difference is just half a year.

__S.17__
__S.19__
In countries with high incomes, the longevity advantage for women used to be smaller
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two things stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men in America live longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is increasing: صبغ الشعر بالاسود While the female advantage in life expectancy was very small however, it has grown significantly with time.

You can check if the points you've listed are applicable to other countries that have data by clicking the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.