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 so more than men do today, and why have these advantages gotten bigger over time? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence is not strong enough to make an unambiguous conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological and environmental variables which all play a part in women's longevity more than men, we do not know the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of the precise number of pounds, we know that at least part of the reason women live longer than men but not previously, is to do with the fact that a number of fundamental non-biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Certain 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, all countries are above the diagonal parity line - this means that in all countries baby girls can expect to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

This chart shows that, even though women enjoy an advantage in all countries, the differences across countries could be significant. In Russia women have a longer life span than men; in Bhutan the gap is just half a year.

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In the richer countries, the advantage of women in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US between 1790 until 2014. Two areas stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men in America have longer lives than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was quite small, it has increased substantially over time.

It is possible to verify that these principles are also applicable to other countries that have data by clicking the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, زيوت تطويل الشعر and Sweden.