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. What's the main reason women are more likely to live longer than men? And how is this difference growing over time? We only have a few clues and the evidence is not sufficient to draw an unambiguous conclusion. Although we know that there are behavioral, biological as well as environmental factors which all play a part in women who live longer than men, we do not know how much each one contributes.

Independently of the exact amount of weight, we are aware that at least part of the reason why women live longer than men in the present but not previously, is to have to do with the fact that some significant non-biological elements have changed. What are these changing factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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 men and women. We can see that every country is above the diagonal parity line , it means that in all nations the newborn girl is likely to live for longer than a new boy.1

This chart illustrates that, although women have an advantage throughout the world, صبغ الشعر بالاسود the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women have a longer life span than males; while in Bhutan the difference is just half each year.

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In the richer countries, صبغ الشعر بالاسود the longevity advantage for women was smaller
We will now examine how the female advantage in longevity has changed over time. The next chart plots the male and female lifespans at birth in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two areas stand out.

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

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was extremely small but it has risen significantly with time.

You can confirm 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.