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

Revision as of 13:39, 11 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 longer than men in the present, and why does this benefit increase over time? The evidence is sketchy and we only have incomplete answers. Although we know that there are biological, psychological and environmental variables which all play a part in women who live longer than males, it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

In spite of the amount of weight, we are aware that a large portion of the reason women live so much longer than men in the present but not previously, is to have to do with the fact that some key non-biological factors have changed. These factors are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Some are more complex. 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 العاب زوجية men and women. We can see that all countries are above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in all countries can expect to live longer than her brothers.

This graph shows that although there is a women's advantage throughout the world, العاب زوجية the differences between countries can be substantial. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of less that half a year.

__S.17__
__S.19__
In wealthy countries, the advantage of women in longevity was smaller
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two areas stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women in America have longer lives than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the female advantage in life expectancy was once extremely small but it has risen significantly in the past.

If you select the option "Change country' on the chart, you are able to confirm that the two points are applicable to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.