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 makes women live more than men do today and how has this advantage increased over time? The evidence is limited and we have only some answers. We know there are behavioral, biological, علامات الحمل بولد and environmental factors which all play a part in the longevity of women over men, we do not know the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of how much amount, we can say that at a minimum, the reason women live longer than men today and not in the past, is to be due to the fact that several significant non-biological elements have changed. What are these new factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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. It is clear that all countries are over the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in all countries can expect to live longer than her younger brother.

The chart above shows that although the female advantage exists in all countries, global differences are significant. In Russia women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan the difference is less than half a calendar year.

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The advantage women had in life expectancy was less in rich countries as compared to the present.
Let's now look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed with time. The chart below illustrates the male and علامات الحمل بولد female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US during the period 1790 until 2014. Two specific points stand out.

First, there's an upward trend. Men as well as women in the US live much, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is getting wider: Although the advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was extremely small but it has risen significantly over time.

When you click on the option "Change country by country' in the chart, you will be able to confirm that the two points apply to other countries that have available data: Sweden, France and the UK.