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 are more likely to live longer than men? What is the reason does this benefit increase in the past? There isn't much evidence and we're left with only incomplete solutions. We know that biological, behavioral and افضل كريم للشعر environmental factors all contribute to the fact that women have longer lives than men, however, we do not know how strong the relative contribution to each of these variables is.

We have learned that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. But, this is not due to the fact that certain 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. Others 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. It is clear that all countries are above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in every country can anticipate to live longer than her brothers.

This graph shows that although women have an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries can be substantial. In Russia women are 10 years older than men, while in Bhutan the difference is just half each year.

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In rich countries the women's advantage in longevity was not as great.
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The following chart shows male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two areas stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men and women in the United States live longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The second is that there is an increasing gap: The female advantage in life expectancy used to be quite small but it increased substantially during the last century.

You can check if these principles are also applicable to other countries with data by selecting the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.