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 much longer than men today, and why is this difference growing in the past? There isn't much evidence and we're only able to provide incomplete solutions. We know there are biological, psychological as well as environmental factors which all play a part in women living longer than males, we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

We have learned that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. However this is not because of certain biological factors have changed. What are these new factors? 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, زيوت تطويل الشعر 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 every country is over the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from every country could expect to live longer than her brother.

Interestingly, this chart shows that the advantage of women exists across all countries, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women are 10 years older than men. In Bhutan the gap is just half one year.

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The female advantage in life expectancy was much lower in countries with higher incomes than it is now.
Let's look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed with time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US from 1790-2014. Two distinct features stand out.

First, there's an upward trend: Men and women in the US have a much longer life span longer today than 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 extremely small however, it has grown significantly in the past.

When you click on the option "Change country by country' in the chart, you are able to determine if these two points also apply to the other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.