Difference between revisions of "Why Do Women Have Longer Lives Than Men"

Revision as of 16:50, 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. What makes women live much longer than men today and why does this benefit increase over time? There is only limited evidence and the evidence isn't sufficient to support an informed conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, psychological as well as environmental factors which play a significant role in women living longer than men, we do not know the extent to which each factor plays a role.

We are aware that women live longer than men, regardless of weight. However it is not due to the fact that certain biological or علامات الحمل بولد non-biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? 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 علامات الحمل بولد women. We can see that all countries are over the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in all countries can be expected to live for longer than her brothers.

This chart illustrates that, although women have an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women are 10 years older than men. In Bhutan the gap is just half each year.

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

There is an upward trend. Men and women in the US are living much, much 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 getting wider: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy was extremely small It has significantly increased over time.

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