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. Why do women live so longer than men in the present, and why is this difference growing over time? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only incomplete answers. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors that play an integral role in women who live longer than men, we do not know what percentage each factor plays in.

In spite of the precise weight, we know that at a minimum, the reason why women live so much longer than men in the present and not previously, has to relate to the fact that some key 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, صبغ الشعر بالاسود 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 صبغ الشعر بالاسود men and women. We can see that every country is above the diagonal parity line - this means in all countries baby girls can expect to live longer than a newborn boy.1

The chart above shows that although the female advantage exists across all countries, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women are 10 years older than men; in Bhutan the difference is less than half one year.

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In the richer countries, the female advantage in longevity was smaller
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The following chart shows the life expectancy of males and females at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.

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

The second is that there is an increasing gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be very modest however it increased dramatically in the past century.

By selecting 'Change Country in the chart, you can determine if these two points are also applicable to the other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.