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's the reason why women live longer than men? What is the reason the advantage has grown over time? We only have partial evidence and the evidence isn't strong enough to make an absolute conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological and environmental variables that play an integral role in the longevity of women over men, we don't know the extent to which each factor plays a role.

We know that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. But this is not because of certain non-biological aspects have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, 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 men and women. It is clear that every country is over the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from any country can be expected to live for longer than her younger brother.

This graph shows that although women have an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries can be significant. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than men, while in Bhutan the gap is less than half a year.

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The female advantage in terms of life expectancy was lower in the richer countries than it is now.
Let's examine how the female advantage in longevity has changed with time. The following chart shows the male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both men as well as women in the US are living much, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is widening: صبغ الشعر بالاسود While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was very small It has significantly increased in the past.

If you select the option "Change country from the chart, you are able to verify that these two points also apply to the other countries having available information: Sweden, France and the UK.