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 are more likely to live longer than men? And how is this difference growing over time? We only have partial evidence and the evidence isn't strong enough to make a definitive conclusion. We know that behavioral, biological and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women live longer than men; However, we're not sure what the contribution of each of these factors is.

It is known that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. But this is not due to the fact that certain 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. 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. It is clear that every country is over the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in all countries can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

The chart below shows that even though women enjoy an advantage across all countries, differences between countries can be significant. In Russia women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan, the difference is just half a year.

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The advantage women had in life expectancy was less in developed countries as compared to the present.
Let's see how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The following chart shows the male and female lifespans at birth in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Women and men in America live longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is growing: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be very small however, it has grown significantly over time.

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