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

Revision as of 01:53, 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 is this difference growing over time? There is only limited evidence and the evidence is not strong enough to make an absolute conclusion. We know that behavioral, biological and environmental factors all play a role in the fact that women live longer than men; however, we aren't sure how strong the relative contribution of each of these factors is.

In spite of the number of pounds, we know that at least part of the reason why women live so much longer than men do today but not in the past, has to do with the fact that several important non-biological aspects have changed. What 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, كيفية إقامة علاقة بالصور 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 all countries are above the diagonal parity line - it means that in all nations the newborn girl is likely to live for longer than a new boy.1

The chart above shows that although the female advantage exists across all countries, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women are 10 years older than men; in Bhutan the difference is less than half one year.

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In wealthy countries, the women's advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's now look at how the advantage of women in longevity has changed with time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two specific points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men as well as women in the US live a lot, كيفية إقامة علاقة بالصور much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is growing: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be tiny however, it has grown significantly over time.

By selecting 'Change Country' on the chart, you will be able to confirm that the two points apply to the other countries having available information: Sweden, France and the UK.