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's the reason why women have a longer life span than men? Why is this difference growing over time? There is only limited evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to reach a definitive conclusion. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors all play a role in the fact that women have longer lives than men, however, we aren't sure how significant the impact of each factor is.

We are aware that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. However, this is not because of certain non-biological aspects have changed. These are the factors that are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are others 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 above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl from every country could be expected to live for longer than her brother.

It is interesting to note that, while the advantage for women exists everywhere, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than men. In Bhutan the gap is just half a year.

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In the richer countries, the advantage of women in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's look at the way that female advantages in longevity has changed over time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

There is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they used to a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be very small It has significantly increased in the past.

It is possible to verify that these are applicable to other countries with information by clicking on the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and اوضاع الجماع Sweden.