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 is the reason women live longer than men? What is the reason the advantage has grown as time passes? We only have a few clues and زيوت تطويل الشعر the evidence is not sufficient to reach a definitive conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables which all play a part in women living longer than males, it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

In spite of the amount, we can say that at a minimum, the reason women live longer than men in the present however not as previously, has to have to do with the fact that a number of 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. Some 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. It is clear that all countries are above the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl from any country can expect to live longer than her older brother.

Interestingly, this chart shows that, while the advantage for women exists across all countries, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the gap is less than half a calendar year.

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In countries with high incomes, the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's now look at the way that female advantages in terms of longevity has changed over time. The next chart plots male and female life expectancy when they were born in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two specific points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women in America live 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 advantage of women in life expectancy used to be quite small but it has risen significantly in the past.

You can verify that these principles are also applicable to other countries that have data by clicking on the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.