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 are more likely to live longer than men? What is the reason does this benefit increase as time passes? There isn't much evidence and we have only incomplete solutions. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women live longer than men; however, we aren't sure what the contribution to each of these variables is.

In spite of the precise amount, we can say that at least a portion of the reason why women live so much longer than men, but not in the past, has to do with the fact that some fundamental non-biological factors have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are other issues 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 over the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl in every country can anticipate to live longer than her brothers.

The chart below shows that even though women enjoy an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries could be significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan the gap is less that half a year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was much lower in developed countries than it is today.
Let's see how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at the time of birth in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand العاب زوجية out.

There is an upward trend: Men as well as women in the US are living much, much longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was quite small, it has increased substantially over time.

If you select the option "Change country in the chart, you are able to confirm that the two points apply to the other countries having available information: Sweden, France and the UK.