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's the main reason women are more likely to live longer than men? Why does this benefit increase over time? The evidence isn't conclusive and we only have partial solutions. We know that behavioral, biological and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women have longer life spans than men, however, we do not know how much the influence of each one of these factors is.

We are aware that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. But, this is not because of certain biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. 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. It is clear that every country is above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her brothers.

It is interesting to note that although the female advantage exists everywhere, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was much lower in rich countries than it is now.
Let's examine how the advantage of women in longevity has changed over time. The next chart plots male and female life expectancy at birth in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two areas stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both genders in America live longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

And second, there is a widening gap: ابر التخسيس The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be very modest, but it grew substantially over the course of the last century.

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