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. What is the reason women have a longer life span than men? And how is this difference growing in the past? There is only limited evidence and the evidence isn't sufficient to draw an unambiguous conclusion. We are aware that behavioral, biological and environmental factors all contribute to the fact that women have longer lives than men, however, we do not know what the contribution to each of these variables is.

It is known that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. However this is not because of certain non-biological aspects have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are other issues 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, اضيق وضعية للجماع (Glorynote wrote in a blog post) 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 means that a newborn girl in every country can be expected to live for longer than her younger brother.

The chart above shows that although the female advantage exists across all countries, the global differences are significant. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than males; while in Bhutan the gap is less than half a year.

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The advantage for women in life expectancy was much lower in countries with higher incomes than it is now.
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the men and women's life expectancies when they were born in the US between 1790-2014. Two distinct points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men 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.

Second, the gap is growing: Although the female advantage in life expectancy used to be extremely small however, it has grown significantly in the past.

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