Difference between revisions of "Why Women Are More Likely To Live Longer Than Men"

Revision as of 19:27, 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 main reason women have a longer life span than men? And how the advantage has grown in the past? We only have a few clues and the evidence isn't sufficient to draw an informed conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral, and environmental factors that play an integral role in women who live longer than males, it isn't clear what percentage each factor plays in.

In spite of the precise weight, we know that at a minimum, the reason women live so much longer than men but not in the past, is to have to do with the fact that some fundamental non-biological factors have changed. These factors are changing. Some are well known and 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. As you can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line - this means in all countries that a baby girl can be expected to live longer than a newborn boy.1

This chart is interesting in that it shows that, while the advantage for افضل شامبو وبلسم women is present everywhere, difference between countries is huge. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan, the difference is less than half a calendar year.

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In rich countries the women's advantage in longevity was not as great.
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancy at birth in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. as well as women in the US have a much longer life span longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is widening: While the female advantage in life expectancy used to be quite small but it has risen significantly with time.

By selecting 'Change Country in the chart, you will be able to determine if these two points are also applicable to other countries that have available data: Sweden, France and the UK.