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

Revision as of 22:01, 13 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 much longer than men today and why have these advantages gotten bigger over time? We only have a few clues and the evidence is not sufficient to reach a definitive conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors that all play a role in women who live longer than men, we do not know the extent to which each factor plays a role.

Independently of the exact amount of weight, we are aware that a large portion of the reason women live longer than men do today however not as previously, has to be due to the fact that a number of significant non-biological elements have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, ماذا يحدث بين الزوجين في الحمام بالصور 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. As we can see, all countries are above the diagonal parity line ; which means that in every country that a baby girl can be expected to live for longer than a new boy.1

This chart shows that, while there is a female advantage across all countries, differences between countries could be significant. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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In rich countries the female advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The following chart shows male and female life expectancy at birth in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two things stand out.

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

Second, the gap is increasing: While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was extremely small, it has increased substantially over time.

You can check if the points you've listed are applicable to other countries with information by clicking on the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.