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 is the reason women live more than men do today, and why does this benefit increase in the past? We only have a few clues and the evidence is not sufficient to reach a definitive conclusion. We know there are biological, behavioral and environmental factors which play a significant role in the longevity of women over men, we do not know what percentage each factor plays in.

In spite of the precise number of pounds, we know that at least a portion of the reason why women live so much longer than men do today but not previously, is to relate to the fact that several important non-biological aspects have changed. What are these changing factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are other issues that are more intricate. For علامات الحمل بولد 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 implies that a baby girl in all countries can expect to live longer than her older brother.

This chart is interesting in that it shows that while the female advantage is present everywhere, global differences are significant. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than males; while in Bhutan the gap is just half one year.

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In wealthy countries, the women's advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below shows men and women's life expectancies when they were born in the US between 1790 until 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

First, there's an upward trend: Men and women in the US have a much longer life span 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 widening: While the female advantage in life expectancy used to be quite small It has significantly increased over time.

You can check if these are applicable to other countries that have data by selecting the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.