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

Revision as of 16:43, 13 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 more than men do today, and why is this difference growing over time? The evidence isn't conclusive and ابر التخسيس we're left with only limited answers. Although we know that there are behavioral, biological, and ابر التخسيس environmental factors that all play a role in women living longer than males, we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of how much amount, we can say that at least a portion of the reason women live longer than men, but not previously, is to be due to the fact that certain key non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that are changing? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are other issues that are more intricate. 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 all countries are above the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl from every country could be expected to live for longer than her brothers.

This graph shows that even though women enjoy an advantage everywhere, cross-country differences can be significant. In Russia women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan, the difference is only half a year.

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The advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was lower in countries with higher incomes than it is now.
Let's now look at how the advantage of women in terms of longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female lifespans when they were born in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there's an upward trend. and women in the US have a much longer life span longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is increasing: While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was tiny but it has risen significantly in the past.

You can confirm that the points you've listed are applicable to other countries with information by clicking on the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.