Why Do Women Have Longer Lives 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 have a longer life span than men? And how is this difference growing over time? There is only limited evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to draw a definitive conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological and environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than men, we do not know what percentage each factor plays in.

In spite of the precise number of pounds, we know that a large portion of the reason why women live longer than men in the present and not previously, is to do with the fact that several important non-biological aspects have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Other are more complicated. 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 زيوت تطويل الشعر survivors, زيوت تطويل الشعر 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 line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl in all countries can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

The chart below shows that even though women enjoy an advantage across all countries, differences between countries are often significant. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is less that half a year.

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In rich countries the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The following chart shows the men and women's life expectancies when they were born in the US in the years 1790-2014. Two distinct points stand out.

First, there's an upward trend. Both men and women in the US have a much longer life span longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is growing: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was extremely small but it has risen significantly over time.

If you select the option "Change country from the chart, you will be able to verify that these two points also apply to the other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.