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

Revision as of 16:25, 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 makes women live longer than men in the present, and why have these advantages gotten bigger over time? The evidence is sketchy and we only have incomplete solutions. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral, and environmental factors that play an integral role in the longevity of women over males, we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

We have learned that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. However, this is not due to the fact that certain biological or non-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 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. It is clear that all countries are above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from every country could expect to live longer than her younger brother.

This chart shows that, while there is a female advantage in all countries, the differences across countries are often significant. In Russia, women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan the difference is less that half a year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was less in the richer countries that it is today.
Let's examine how the female advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The chart below shows gender-based and female-specific life expectancy when they were born in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Both genders living in America are living longer than they used to a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The second is that there is an increase in the gap between men and women: اضيق وضعية للجماع (glorynote.com) female advantage in life expectancy used be very modest however it increased dramatically in the past century.

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