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

Revision as of 16:24, 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 makes women live much longer than men today and why has this advantage increased over time? The evidence is sketchy and we only have partial solutions. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and environmental factors that play an integral role in the longevity of women over males, we aren't sure what percentage each factor plays in.

We know that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. However, this is not due to the fact that certain biological or non-biological factors 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, علامات الحمل بولد 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 parity line - this means in all countries that a baby girl can be expected to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

This chart illustrates that, while there is a female advantage across all countries, علامات الحمل بولد differences between countries can be significant. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than men. In Bhutan the gap is less than half each year.

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In countries with high incomes, the advantage of women in longevity used to be smaller
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The next chart plots the life expectancy of males and females at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women in America have longer lives than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

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

It is possible to verify that the points you've listed are applicable to other countries with data by clicking on the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.