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's the main reason women are more likely to live longer than men? What is the reason the advantage has grown in the past? The evidence is sketchy and we have only incomplete answers. Although we know that there are behavioral, biological, and environmental factors which all play a part in women living longer than males, العاب زوجية it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

It is known that women live longer than males, regardless of weight. But it is not due to the fact that certain non-biological aspects have changed. What are these changing factors? 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 العاب زوجية men and women. We can see that every country is over the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl from any country can be expected to live for longer than her younger brother.

This chart is interesting in that it shows that, while the advantage for women exists in all countries, cross-country differences are large. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of less than half a calendar year.

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In the richer countries, the longevity advantage for women used to be smaller
We will now examine how the gender advantage in life expectancy has changed over time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancy at birth in the US from 1790-2014. Two areas stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men 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.

The gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in life expectancy used to be tiny, it has increased substantially over time.

By selecting 'Change Country from the chart, you can confirm that the two points are also applicable to the other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.