Why Are Women Living 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. Why do women live much longer than men today and why has this advantage increased in the past? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only incomplete solutions. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors all play a role in the fact that women are healthier than men; however, we aren't sure how much the influence of each factor is.

Independently of the exact number of pounds, we know that at a minimum, the reason why women live so much longer than men do today and not in the past, is to have to do with the fact that some important non-biological aspects have changed. These factors are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others are more complicated. For افضل كريم للشعر example, افضل كريم للشعر 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 above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her older brother.

The chart below shows that while there is a female advantage everywhere, cross-country differences can be significant. In Russia, women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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In the richer countries, the advantage of women in longevity was smaller
Let's now look at how the advantage of women in life expectancy has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the gender-based and female-specific life expectancy at birth in the US between 1790-2014. Two distinct points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Both men and women in the US live much, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy was once quite small It has significantly increased over time.

You can confirm that these are applicable to other countries that have data by clicking on the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.