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

Revision as of 15:25, 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's the main reason women live longer than men? What is the reason the advantage has grown in the past? The evidence is sketchy and we only have limited answers. While we are aware that there are behavioral, biological, and environmental factors which all play a part in the longevity of women over males, we aren't sure what percentage each factor plays in.

We have learned that women live longer than men, regardless of weight. However this is not because of certain 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. We can see that every country is above the diagonal parity line , which means that in every country the newborn girl is likely to live longer than a newborn boy.1

Interestingly, this chart shows that although the female advantage exists everywhere, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia, women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of less than half a calendar year.

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The advantage for women in terms of life expectancy was lower in the richer countries as compared to the present.
Let's now look at the way that female advantages in life expectancy has changed over time. The following chart shows male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two points stand ماذا يحدث بين الزوجين في الحمام بالصور - please click the following webpage - out.

There is an upward trend. Both genders in America live longer than they used to a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, there's an increasing gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be extremely small however, it has increased significantly during the last century.

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