Why 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 much longer than men today and how have these advantages gotten bigger over time? The evidence is limited and we have only partial solutions. Although we know that there are behavioral, biological, and environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than males, we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

It is known that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. But this isn't due to the fact that certain non-biological factors have changed. These factors are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Certain 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 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 in every country can be expected to live for longer than her younger brother.

This chart is interesting in that it shows that although the female advantage exists everywhere, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan, the difference is less that half a year.

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The advantage for women in terms of life expectancy was lower in developed countries as compared to the present.
We will now examine the way that female advantages in terms of longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female life expectancy at the time of birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand out.

There is an upward trend: Men and women in the US live a lot, much longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

There is an ever-widening gap: female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be very modest however, it has increased significantly over the last century.

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