Why Do Women Live 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? And why is this difference growing over time? There isn't much evidence and we're left with only partial solutions. While we are aware that there are behavioral, biological and environmental variables that play an integral role in women's longevity more than men, we don't know how much each factor contributes.

In spite of the precise amount of weight, we are aware that at least part of the reason women live so much longer than men today and not previously, has to relate to the fact that certain key non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that are changing? Some are well known and صبغ الشعر بالاسود - Recommended Web site - relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are others 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. As you can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line , which means that in every country the newborn girl is likely to live longer than a newborn boy.1

This chart shows that, while there is a female advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be substantial. In Russia women have a longer life span than men. In Bhutan the difference is less than half an hour.

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In countries with high incomes, the advantage of women in longevity used to be smaller
Let's look at how the advantage of women in life expectancy has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two things stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Both men and women in the US live a lot, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is widening: While the advantage of women in life expectancy was once very small however, it has grown significantly in the past.

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