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. Why do women live so more than men do today and how does this benefit increase over time? There isn't much evidence and we only have limited answers. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables that play an integral role in women living longer than males, it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

It is known that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. But this isn't due to the fact that certain biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? 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. It is clear that every country is over the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her brother.

This graph shows that although there is a women's advantage in all countries, the differences across countries could be significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is just half a year.

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In rich countries the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancies at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand علامات الحمل بولد out.

First, there is an upward trend. Both men as well as 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 increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy was once quite small but it has risen significantly in the past.

Using the option 'Change country in the chart, confirm that the two points also apply to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.