Why Women Are More Likely To 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. Why do women live so longer than men, and why is this difference growing over time? There isn't much evidence and we only have incomplete answers. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological, and environmental factors which play a significant role in women living longer than males, it isn't clear the extent to which each factor plays a role.

We know that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. However this isn't because of certain biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. 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, 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. As you can see, all countries are above the diagonal line of parity - which means that in every country baby girls can expect to live longer than a newborn boy.1

This chart shows that, although there is a women's advantage across all countries, differences between countries could be significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men; in Bhutan the difference is just half a year.

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The advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was lower in countries with higher incomes than it is today.
Let's now look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed with time. The next chart plots the life expectancy of males and females at birth in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there's an upward trend. and افضل كريم للشعر women in the US are living 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 widening: While the advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was quite small It has significantly increased in the past.

You can check if these principles are also applicable to other countries that have information by clicking on the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.