Why Women Are More Likely To 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 are more likely to live longer than men? What is the reason is this difference growing over time? The evidence isn't conclusive and we only have limited solutions. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and افضل شامبو وبلسم (Highly recommended Site) environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than men, we do not know what percentage each factor plays in.

It is known that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. However this is not because of certain non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that are changing? 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. We can see that all countries are above the diagonal line of parity - it means that in all nations the newborn girl is likely to live longer than a new boy.1

This chart is interesting in that it shows that while the female advantage exists in all countries, difference between countries is huge. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan the difference is less that half a year.

__S.17__
__S.19__
In rich countries the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US in the years 1790 until 2014. Two points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Women and men in the United States live longer than they did 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 life expectancy used to be very small but it increased substantially over the course of the last century.

It is possible to verify that these points are also applicable to other countries that have data by clicking the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.