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 is the reason women live much longer than men today and why does this benefit increase in the past? There isn't much evidence and we're only able to provide limited solutions. We know there are biological, behavioral, and environmental factors that all play a role in women who live longer than men, we do not know how much each factor contributes.

We are aware that women live longer than men, اضيق وضعية للجماع regardless of weight. However this isn't 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. 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. We can see that every country is over the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl in every country can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

This chart is interesting in that it shows that, while the advantage for women is present everywhere, country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males; while in Bhutan the gap is less than half one year.

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In the richer countries, the longevity advantage for women was smaller
Let's look at the way that female advantages in life expectancy has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female life expectancies at birth in the US during the period 1790-2014. Two specific points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both men as well as women in the US have a much longer life span longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is increasing: While the advantage of women in life expectancy was very small It has significantly increased with time.

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