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 are more likely to live longer than men? And how the advantage has grown in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we only have incomplete solutions. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral, and environmental factors which all play a part in the longevity of women over males, we aren't sure how much each one contributes.

It is known that women live longer than males, regardless of weight. But, this is not because of certain biological factors have changed. What are these new factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, كيفية إقامة علاقة بالصور 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. As we can see, all countries are above the diagonal parity line - which means that in every country baby girls can expect to live longer than a new boy.1

The chart below shows that while there is a female advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be substantial. In Russia women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan the difference is just half a year.

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In wealthy countries, the female advantage in longevity was not as great.
Let's examine how the advantage of women in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart shows the male and female lifespans at birth in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two aspects stand out.

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

The gap is increasing: While the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be tiny however, it has grown significantly with time.

If you select the option "Change country by country' in the chart, you will be able to confirm that the two points are also applicable to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.