Why Do Women Have Longer Lives 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 makes women live much longer than men today and why does this benefit increase in the past? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only incomplete answers. We recognize that biological, behavioral and environmental factors all play a role in the fact that women live longer than men; however, we aren't sure what the contribution of each of these factors is.

We know that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. However this is not due to the fact that certain non-biological aspects have changed. What are these new factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are other issues that are more intricate. For ابر التخسيس 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 in every country can be expected to live for longer than her younger brother.

Interestingly, this chart shows that the advantage of women is present everywhere, global differences are significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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In wealthy countries, the women's advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US in the years 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, there's an increasing gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be very small however it increased dramatically during the last century.

By selecting 'Change Country from the chart, you are able to check that these two points are applicable to the other countries having available information: Sweden, France and the UK.