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

Revision as of 00:54, 14 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 so longer than men and why have these advantages gotten bigger in the past? There isn't much evidence and we only have incomplete answers. We are aware that behavioral, biological and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women have longer lives than men, however, we do not know how significant the impact of each one of these factors is.

In spite of the amount of weight, we are aware that at least part of the reason why women live longer than men do today but not in the past, has to relate to 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. Others 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, كيفية إقامة علاقة بالصور (similar internet site) 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 diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from every country could expect to live longer than her brother.

The chart below shows that while there is a female advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be substantial. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is less that half a year.

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In the richer countries, the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's examine how the gender advantage in longevity has changed over time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancies at birth in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two things stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend: Men as well as women in the US live a lot, 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 growing: Although the female advantage in life expectancy used to be very small but it has risen significantly with time.

Using the option 'Change country' on the chart, you can verify that these two points apply to the other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.