Why Do Women Live Longer 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. Why do women live longer than men in the present and why is this difference growing in the past? The evidence is limited and صبغ الشعر بالاسود we have only partial answers. We recognize that biological, behavioral and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women live longer than men; However, we're not sure how much the influence of each one of these factors is.

It is known that women live longer than men, صبغ الشعر بالاسود regardless of their weight. But this isn't due to the fact that certain biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are others 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 over the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in every country can expect to live longer than her younger brother.

It is interesting to note that the advantage of women is present everywhere, difference between countries is huge. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of less than half a calendar year.

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In rich countries the longevity advantage for women used to be smaller
Let's now look at the way that female advantages in longevity has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at birth in the US from 1790-2014. Two specific points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men as well as women in the US live a lot, much 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 life expectancy was very small but it has risen significantly over time.

Using the option 'Change country in the chart, you can confirm that the two points are also applicable to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.