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

Revision as of 12:33, 10 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 have these advantages gotten bigger over time? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only limited answers. We know there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables which all play a part in women who live longer than males, it isn't clear the extent to which each factor اوضاع الجماع plays a role.

We are aware that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. However it is not due to the fact that certain non-biological factors have changed. What are these changing factors? 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, 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 line of parity - which means that in every country that a baby girl can be expected to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

The chart below shows that even though women enjoy an advantage in all countries, the differences across countries are often significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males; while in Bhutan the gap is less than half a year.

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The advantage for women in life expectancy was much lower in countries with higher incomes than it is today.
Let's see how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the men and women's life expectancies at the time of birth in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.

There is an upward trend. as well as women in the US have a much longer life span 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 widening: While the advantage of women in life expectancy was once very small but it has risen significantly in the past.

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, اوضاع الجماع France, and Sweden.