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's the reason why women have a longer life span than men? And how the advantage has grown over time? There isn't much evidence and we're only able to provide some solutions. We know there are biological, psychological and environmental factors which play a significant role in women who live longer than men, we do not know what percentage each factor plays in.

In spite of the precise number of pounds, we know that at a minimum, the reason why women live so much longer than men however not as in the past, is to do with the fact that several significant non-biological elements have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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. It is clear that every country is over the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl from any country can be expected to live for longer than her older brother.

This chart is interesting in that it shows that the advantage of women exists in all countries, global differences are significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is only half a year.

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The female advantage in life expectancy was less in the richer countries than it is now.
Let's see how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies at the birth in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two distinct points stand اضيق وضعية للجماع out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they were 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 once tiny however, it has grown significantly in the past.

When you click on the option "Change country by country' in the chart, you will be able to verify that these two points are also applicable to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.