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 makes women live much longer than men today and why is this difference growing in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we're left with only partial answers. We know there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables which all play a part in women's longevity more than men, we do not know how much each factor contributes.

We have learned that women live longer than males, regardless of weight. However this isn't due to the fact that certain biological or non-biological factors have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are other issues that are more intricate. For example, افضل شامبو وبلسم 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. We can see that all countries are above the diagonal line of parity - this means in all countries a newborn girl can expect to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

This chart shows that, although women have an advantage in all countries, the differences across countries are often significant. In Russia women have a longer life span than men, while in Bhutan the difference is less than half an hour.

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

First, there's an upward trend. Both men and women in the US live much, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in life expectancy used to be very small however, it has grown significantly in the past.

You can confirm that these points are also applicable to other countries that have data by clicking on the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.