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 makes women live much longer than men today and why has this advantage increased in the past? We only have partial evidence and the evidence isn't sufficient to draw an unambiguous conclusion. While we are aware that there are behavioral, biological and environmental factors which all play a part in the longevity of women over males, we aren't sure how much each factor contributes.

In spite of how much amount, we can say that at a minimum, العاب زوجية; recommended, the reason why women live longer than men do today and not previously, has to be due to the fact that several key non-biological factors have changed. What are these new factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Certain are more complicated. 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 line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl in every country can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

It is interesting to note that although the female advantage is present everywhere, global differences are significant. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is just half a year.

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In wealthy countries, the women's advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
We will now examine how the female advantage in longevity has changed over time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US from 1790 until 2014. Two points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men and women in America live longer than they used to a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy was quite small It has significantly increased in the past.

If you select the option "Change country' on the chart, you will be able to check that these two points are also applicable to the other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.