Why Do 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's the reason why women have a longer life span than men? What is the reason does this benefit increase as time passes? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only some solutions. We are aware that behavioral, biological and environmental factors all contribute to the fact that women are healthier than men; however, we aren't sure how strong the relative contribution of each factor 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. These factors are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, اضيق وضعية للجماع 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 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 اضيق وضعية للجماع men and women. As we can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line ; this means that in all countries the newborn girl is likely to live longer than a newborn boy.1

The chart above shows that the advantage of women is present everywhere, country-specific differences are huge. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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In the richer countries, the women's advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at the time of birth in the US between 1790-2014. Two distinct points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Men and women in the United States live longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

And second, there is a widening gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used to be quite small however it increased dramatically in the past century.

By selecting 'Change Country' on the chart, you will be able to determine if these two points also apply to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.