Why Women Are More Likely To 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 longer than men and why has this advantage increased in the past? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to support an informed conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables which all play a part in the longevity of women over men, we don't know what percentage each factor plays in.

It is known that women live longer than men, العاب زوجية regardless of weight. However it is not due to the fact that certain non-biological factors have changed. What are these new factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Other are more complicated. 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. As you can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line - it means that in all nations a newborn girl can expect to live for longer than a new boy.1

It is interesting to note that, while the advantage for women exists in all countries, global differences are significant. In Russia women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan, the difference is just half a year.

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The advantage for women in terms of life expectancy was lower in the richer countries than it is now.
Let's look at how the gender advantage in longevity has changed with time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US in the years 1790 until 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. as well as women in the US have a much longer life span longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was once tiny, it has increased substantially over time.

By selecting 'Change Country' on the chart, you can confirm that the two points apply to other countries that have available data: Sweden, France and the UK.