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's the reason women are more likely to live longer than men? Why does this benefit increase over time? We only have partial evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to support a definitive conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables that all play a role in the longevity of women over men, we do not know the extent to which each factor العاب زوجية plays a role.

We have learned that women live longer than men, regardless of their weight. However this isn't due to the fact that certain biological factors have changed. The factors changing are numerous. 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, 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 line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in every country can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

This chart shows that, while there is a female 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 just half a year.

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The advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was lower in developed countries than it is now.
Let's examine how the female advantage in longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows male and female life expectancy when they were born in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two things stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living 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 getting wider: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was once tiny but it has risen significantly in the past.

By selecting 'Change Country by country' in the chart, you will be able to verify that these two points are applicable to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.