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 longer than men in the present, and why does this benefit increase over time? We only have a few clues and the evidence is not strong enough to make a definitive conclusion. We know there are biological, psychological and تحاميل مهبلية environmental variables that all play a role in women living longer than men, we do not know how much each factor contributes.

It is known that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. However this is not because of certain biological factors have changed. These factors are changing. 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. We can see that every country is above the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl from every country could be expected to live for longer than her brother.

This graph shows that although there is a women's advantage in all countries, the differences across countries are often significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the gap is less than half each year.

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In rich countries the advantage of women in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's look at how the advantage of women in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancy at birth in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women living in America are living longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in life expectancy used to be tiny It has significantly increased over time.

By selecting 'Change Country by country' in the chart, you will be able to determine if these two points also apply to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and تحاميل مهبلية the UK.