Why 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 makes women live more than men do today and how is this difference growing over time? The evidence is sketchy and we have only limited answers. While we are aware that there are biological, ابر التخسيس psychological, and environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than men, we do not know how much each factor contributes.

We are aware that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. However it is not due to the fact that certain biological or non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that are changing? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, 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. It is clear that all countries are above the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her younger brother.

This chart shows that, even though women enjoy an advantage across all countries, differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men; in Bhutan the gap is less than half each year.

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In rich countries the female advantage in longevity was smaller
Let's look at how the female advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The next chart plots the male and female lifespans at birth in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

First, there's an upward trend. Men as well as 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.

And second, there is an increase in the gap between men and women: female advantage in terms of life expectancy used to be quite small however it increased dramatically over the last century.

It is possible to verify that these points are also applicable to other countries that have information by clicking on the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.