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 live longer than men in the present and how have these advantages gotten bigger in the past? We only have a few clues and the evidence isn't strong enough to make an absolute conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral 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.

In spite of the precise amount of weight, تحاميل مهبلية we are aware that at a minimum, the reason women live so much longer than men however not as previously, is to have to do with the fact that certain significant non-biological elements have changed. These factors are changing. Some are well known and 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. We can see that every country is over the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her brother.

Interestingly, this chart shows that, while the advantage for women is present everywhere, cross-country differences are large. In Russia, women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan the difference is less than half a calendar year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was less in rich countries than it is now.
Let's examine the way that female advantages in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancy at birth in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two points stand out.

There is an upward trend: Men and 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 growing: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was very small however, it has grown significantly over time.

If you select the option "Change country from the chart, determine if these two points also apply to the other countries having available data: Sweden, France and the UK.