Why Do Women Have Longer Lives Than Men

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 is the reason women live much longer than men today and why has this advantage increased over time? There is only limited evidence and the evidence isn't sufficient to reach an unambiguous conclusion. Although we know that there are behavioral, biological as well as environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than males, we aren't sure how much each one contributes.

It is known that women live longer than males, regardless of weight. However it is not because of certain biological or non-biological factors have changed. The factors changing are numerous. 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. We can see that all countries are above the diagonal parity line ; it means that in all nations that a baby girl can be expected to live longer than a newborn boy.1

This graph shows that although women have an advantage everywhere, cross-country differences could be significant. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than males; while in Bhutan the gap is just half each year.

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In rich countries the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's now look at how the female advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The chart below shows gender-based and كيفية إقامة علاقة بالصور female-specific life expectancy at the time of birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Both genders in the United States live longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is growing: Although the female advantage in life expectancy used to be quite small however, it has grown significantly over time.

Using the option 'Change country by country' in the chart, you will be able to verify that these two points are also applicable to other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.