Difference between revisions of "Why Are Women Living Longer Than Men"

Revision as of 10:56, 7 January 2022

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? Why the advantage has grown over time? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only limited solutions. We know there are biological, psychological and environmental variables which all play a part in women who live longer than males, we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of the number of pounds, we know that at a minimum, the reason why women live so much longer than men and not in the past, is to have to do with the fact that certain important non-biological aspects have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Certain 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 العاب زوجية women. We can see that every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in all countries can expect to live longer than her older brother.

Interestingly, this chart shows that although the female advantage exists everywhere, the difference between countries is huge. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is only half a year.

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The female advantage in life expectancy was much lower in rich countries than it is now.
Let's now look at the way that female advantages in longevity has changed with time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancies at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Women and men in America live longer than they did 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 advantage of women in life expectancy was quite small but it has risen significantly in the past.

Using the option 'Change country' on the chart, determine if these two points are applicable to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and العاب زوجية the UK.