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. Why do women live so more than men do today and why is this difference growing in the past? We only have a few clues and the evidence isn't sufficient to support an informed conclusion. While we are aware that there are behavioral, biological as well as environmental factors which play a significant role in women's longevity more than men, we don't know how much each factor contributes.

It is known that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. But it is not due to the fact that certain non-biological aspects have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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, افضل شامبو وبلسم 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 all countries are over the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in all countries can expect to live longer than her brother.

This chart illustrates that, although women have an advantage across all countries, differences between countries can be significant. In Russia women are 10 years older than men, while in Bhutan the difference is just half an hour.

__S.17__
__S.19__
The female advantage in terms of life expectancy was lower in the richer countries than it is today.
Let's now look at how the gender advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at the time of birth in the US from 1790 until 2014. Two points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men and women in America live longer than they used to a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The second is that there is an increasing gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be extremely small but it increased substantially over the last century.

You can check if these are applicable to other countries that have data by selecting the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.