Why 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 have a longer life span than men? What is the reason the advantage has grown as time passes? The evidence is limited and we're only able to provide some answers. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological and environmental variables which all play a part in women's longevity more than males, it isn't clear what percentage each factor plays in.

Independently of the exact number of pounds, we know that a large portion of the reason why women live longer than men today and not previously, is to relate to the fact that some 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 other issues 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, كيفية ممارسة العلاقة الزوجية فى الاسلام 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. As you can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line ; it means that in all nations a newborn girl can expect to live for longer than a new boy.1

This chart illustrates that, even though women enjoy an advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be significant. In Russia, women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan the difference is less that half a year.

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The advantage for women in life expectancy was less in developed countries as compared to the present.
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The next chart plots male and female life expectancy at birth in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Men and women 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.

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

Using the option 'Change country by country' in the chart, you will be able to confirm that the two points also apply to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.