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 have a longer life span than men? And how has this advantage gotten larger in the past? There isn't much evidence and we're left with only partial answers. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological and environmental variables that play an integral role in the longevity of women over men, we do not know what percentage each factor plays in.

We are aware that women live longer than men, regardless of their weight. However it is not because of certain biological or non-biological factors have changed. What are these changing factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are other issues 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 اوضاع الجماع women. As you can see, all countries are above the diagonal parity line , it means that in all nations that a baby girl can be expected to live longer than a new boy.1

This chart illustrates that, while there is a female advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries could be significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the difference is just half a year.

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In wealthy countries, the advantage of women in longevity was smaller
Let's examine the way that female advantages in longevity has changed with time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancy at the birth in the US during the period 1790-2014. Two distinct features stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both men as well as women in the US are living much, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be tiny It has significantly increased with time.

By selecting 'Change Country by country' in the chart, you are able to determine if these two points are applicable to the other countries having available data: Sweden, France and the UK.