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

Revision as of 03:03, 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 longer than men in the present and why is this difference growing in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we're only able to provide incomplete solutions. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral and environmental factors that play an integral role in women who live longer than men, we don't know the extent to which each factor plays a role.

Independently of the exact amount of weight, صبغ الشعر بالاسود we are aware that at least a portion of the reason women live longer than men today but not in the past, has to relate to the fact that several significant non-biological elements 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, صبغ الشعر بالاسود 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. It is clear that every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from every country could expect to live longer than her brother.

This chart shows that, even though women enjoy an advantage across all countries, differences between countries could be significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the gap is just half a year.

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In the richer countries, the female advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The following chart shows the life expectancy of males and females when they were born in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both genders in America live longer than they used to 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is widening: While the female advantage in life expectancy was once extremely small It has significantly increased with time.

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