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 more than men do today and how has this advantage increased over time? The evidence is limited and we're only able to provide partial answers. We know there are biological, behavioral as well as 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 live longer than men, regardless of weight. However it is not due to the fact that certain biological or 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. Some 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, so advances in medicine that reduced the long-term health burden from infectious diseases, especially for افضل شامبو وبلسم 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 above the diagonal line of parity - this means that in all countries a newborn girl can expect to live longer than a new boy.1

It is interesting to note that the advantage of women exists everywhere, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan the difference is less than half a calendar year.

__S.17__
__S.19__
The advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was lower in rich countries than it is today.
Let's examine how the female advantage in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart plots the life expectancy of males and females at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Women and افضل شامبو وبلسم men 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 gap is growing: Although the female advantage in life expectancy used to be tiny, it has increased substantially over time.

If you select the option "Change country from the chart, you are able to check that these two points also apply to the other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.