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 makes women live longer than men and how has this advantage increased over time? There isn't much evidence and we're only able to provide partial answers. Although we know that there are biological, psychological and environmental variables which all play a part in the longevity of women over men, we do not know how much each one contributes.

We have learned that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. But this is not because of certain 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. 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, ابر التخسيس (source web page) 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 every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl from any country can be expected to live for longer than her brothers.

The chart below shows that although there is a women's advantage across all countries, differences between countries could be significant. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the difference is less that half a year.

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In countries with high incomes, the female advantage in longevity was not as great.
Let's look at how the advantage of women in terms of longevity has changed over time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. and women in the US live much, much longer today than 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 was tiny It has significantly increased over time.

By selecting 'Change Country from the chart, you will be able to determine if these two points also apply to other countries that have available data: Sweden, France and the UK.