Difference between revisions of "Why Are Women Living Longer Than Men"

Revision as of 01:16, 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 longer than men in the present and why is this difference growing over time? The evidence isn't conclusive and we have only partial answers. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological, ماذا يحدث بين الزوجين في الحمام بالصور and environmental factors that all play a role in the longevity of women over males, it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

In spite of the amount, we can say that a large portion of the reason women live so much longer than men in the present, but not in the past, is to be due to the fact that a number of fundamental non-biological factors have changed. These factors 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. As you can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line ; which means that in every country baby girls can expect to live for longer than a new boy.1

Interestingly, this chart shows that while the female advantage is present everywhere, global differences are significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the gap is just half a year.

__S.17__
__S.19__
The advantage for women in terms of life expectancy was lower in countries with higher incomes than it is today.
Let's examine how the female advantage in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancy at birth in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Women and men in America live longer than they were 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, it has increased substantially in the past.

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