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. Why do women live longer than men in the present and why has this advantage increased in the past? There isn't much evidence and we're left with only some answers. We know that behavioral, biological and environmental factors all contribute to the fact that women have longer life spans than men, but we don't know exactly how much the influence to each of these variables is.

In spite of the amount, we can say that at least part of the reason women live so much longer than men in the present and not in the past, is to have to do with the fact that a number of significant non-biological elements have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Some are more complex. For اضيق وضعية للجماع 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 diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl in all countries can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

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

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In wealthy countries, the advantage of women in longevity used to be smaller
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancies at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women in the US are living much, much longer today than a century 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 was quite small It has significantly increased over time.

You can confirm that these are applicable to other countries with data by clicking the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.