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 live longer than men? What is the reason is this difference growing in the past? The evidence is limited and we're only able to provide some solutions. We are aware that behavioral, biological and environmental factors all play a role in the fact that women are healthier than men; however, we do not know how strong the relative contribution of each one of these factors is.

In spite of the precise amount, we can say that a large portion of the reason why women live longer than men do today and not previously, صبغ الشعر بالاسود is to do with the fact that certain fundamental non-biological factors 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. We can see that every country is over the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her brother.

It is interesting to note that the advantage of women exists everywhere, the difference between countries is huge. In Russia women have a longer life span than males; while in Bhutan the difference is just half each year.

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In wealthy countries, the advantage of women in longevity was smaller
Let's now look at the way that female advantages in life expectancy 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 points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men and صبغ الشعر بالاسود 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.

Second, the gap is widening: While the advantage of women in life expectancy was once very small but it has risen significantly with time.

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