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

Revision as of 18:46, 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's the reason why women have a longer life span than men? And why is this difference growing over time? We only have partial evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to draw an unambiguous conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral and صبغ الشعر بالاسود environmental factors that play an integral role in women's longevity more than males, it isn't clear the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of the precise weight, we know that at a minimum, the reason women live so much longer than men however not as in the past, is to have to do with the fact that a number of important non-biological aspects have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and صبغ الشعر بالاسود relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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 men and women. It is clear that every country is above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from every country could expect to live longer than her brothers.

This chart is interesting in that it shows that, while the advantage for women exists across all countries, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan, the difference is just half a year.

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In countries with high incomes, the advantage of women in longevity was not as great.
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female life expectancy at the time of birth in the US between 1790 until 2014. Two points stand out.

There is an upward trend: Men as well as 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.

There is an increase in the gap between men and women: female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be extremely small however, it has increased significantly in the past century.

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