Why Are Women Living 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 is the reason women live more than men do today and how have these advantages gotten bigger over time? We only have partial evidence and the evidence is not strong enough to make an absolute conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than males, we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of the precise amount, we can say that at least part of the reason women live so much longer than men today but not in the past, is to do with the fact that a number of important non-biological aspects 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, اضيق وضعية للجماع 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 all countries are over the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in all countries can be expected to live for longer than her brothers.

The chart above shows that, while the advantage for women exists across all countries, the difference between countries is huge. In Russia, women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan the difference is less than half a calendar year.

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In the richer countries, the advantage of women in longevity was not as great.
Let's now look at how the female advantage in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancies at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

There is a widening gap: The female advantage in life expectancy used to be very small however, it has increased significantly in the past century.

If you select the option "Change country from the chart, confirm that the two points also apply to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.