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 women have a longer life span than men? And why does this benefit increase as time passes? The evidence is limited and we only have some solutions. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables that all play a role in women living longer than males, we aren't sure how much each one contributes.

In spite of the amount, افضل شامبو وبلسم we can say that a large portion of the reason why women live longer than men do today but not in the past, is to do with the fact that certain fundamental non-biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Some are more complex. 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 line of parity - which means that in every country the newborn girl is likely to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

The chart below shows that while there is a female advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be significant. In Russia women have a longer life span than males; while in Bhutan the difference is just half each year.

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In countries with high incomes, the women's advantage in longevity used to be smaller
We will now examine how the gender advantage in life expectancy has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

There is an upward trend: Men as well as women in the US live a lot, much longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

And second, there is a widening gap: The female advantage in life expectancy used be very modest however, it has increased significantly during the last century.

You can verify that the points you've listed are applicable to other countries with data by clicking the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.