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's the reason women are more likely to live longer than men? And how is this difference growing in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we're left with only partial solutions. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women are healthier than men; however, we aren't sure how much the influence of each one of these factors is.

We have learned that women live longer than men, regardless of their weight. However this is not due to the fact that certain non-biological aspects have changed. What are the factors that are changing? Some are well known and صبغ الشعر بالاسود 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. It is clear that all countries are over the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl in all countries can anticipate to live longer than her brothers.

This chart shows that, while there is a female advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries could be significant. In Russia, women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan the difference is just half a year.

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The female advantage in life expectancy was less in rich countries that it is today.
Let's look at the way that female advantages in longevity has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the men and women's life expectancies when they were born in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Women and men in the United States live longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is widening: While the female advantage in life expectancy was very small but it has risen significantly in the past.

By selecting 'Change Country by country' in the chart, determine if these two points apply to the other countries having available data: Sweden, France and the UK.