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

Revision as of 14:56, 12 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. Why do women live so much longer than men today and why have these advantages gotten bigger in the past? There isn't much evidence and we're only able to provide limited solutions. We know there are biological, behavioral and environmental factors which play a significant role in women's longevity more than men, we do not know how much each one contributes.

In spite of the number of pounds, we know that at least a portion of the reason women live longer than men do today but not in the past, has to be due to the fact that certain significant non-biological elements have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others are more complicated. 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, علامات الحمل بولد 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 over the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from any country can expect to live longer than her brothers.

This chart illustrates that, although women have an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries could be significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is less that half a year.

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In countries with high incomes, the longevity advantage for women was previously smaller.
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The following chart shows the male and female lifespans when they were born in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men in the United States live longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

And second, there is a widening gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used to be very modest, but it grew substantially over the last century.

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