Difference between revisions of "Why Do Women Have Longer Lives Than Men"

Revision as of 11:02, 11 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's the main reason women live longer than men? And why has this advantage gotten larger over time? There is only limited evidence and تحاميل مهبلية the evidence is not sufficient to support a definitive conclusion. Although we know that there are behavioral, biological, and environmental factors which play a significant role in women living longer than men, we don't know what percentage each factor plays in.

We have learned that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. However this is not because of certain 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. It is clear that every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in all countries can expect to live longer than her brother.

This graph 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 men; in Bhutan the gap is just half each year.

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In the richer countries, the women's advantage in longevity was smaller
We will now examine the way that female advantages in longevity has changed with time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at birth in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Men and women living in America are living longer than they used to a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the female advantage in life expectancy was once very small, it has increased substantially with time.

You can verify that these are applicable to other countries with data by clicking the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and تحاميل مهبلية (published on Glorynote) Sweden.