Difference between revisions of "Why Do Women Live Longer Than Men"

Revision as of 08:36, 8 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 is the reason women live more than men do today, and why is this difference growing over time? The evidence isn't conclusive and we only have limited solutions. We recognize that biological, behavioral and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women have longer life spans than men, زيوت تطويل الشعر However, we're not sure what the contribution to each of these variables is.

We have learned that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. However, this is not because of certain non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that are changing? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are others 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 we can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line - which means that in every country that a baby girl can be expected to live for longer than a new boy.1

It is interesting to note that the advantage of women exists everywhere, the global differences are significant. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the difference is only half a year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was less in the richer countries as compared to the present.
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The following chart shows the men and women's life expectancies at birth in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Men and women living in America are living longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is increasing: While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was quite small but it has risen significantly over time.

You can confirm that these are applicable to other countries with data by selecting the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.