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

Revision as of 15:10, 10 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 is the reason women live much longer than men today and why have these advantages gotten bigger over time? The evidence is sketchy and we have only partial answers. We know there are biological, psychological as well as environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than males, اوضاع الجماع it isn't clear the extent to which each factor اوضاع الجماع plays a role.

In spite of how much weight, we know that a large portion of the reason women live so much longer than men today, but not in the past, is to do with the fact that certain important non-biological aspects have changed. These are the factors that are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Some 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 over the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in all countries can anticipate to live longer than her older brother.

The chart below shows that although there is a women's advantage across all countries, differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is only half a year.

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In the richer countries, the advantage of women in longevity was smaller
Let's look at how the female advantage in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart shows the life expectancy of males and females when they were born in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is growing: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy was tiny however, it has grown significantly with time.

When you click on the option "Change country' on the chart, you are able to check that these two points apply to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.