Difference between revisions of "Why Do Women Have Longer Lives Than Men"

Revision as of 05:39, 14 January 2022

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 longer than men in the present and why has this advantage increased over time? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence isn't strong enough to make an absolute conclusion. We recognize that biological, behavioral and environmental factors all contribute to the fact that women have longer lives than men, however, we do not know what the contribution of each one of these factors is.

In spite of how much weight, we know that at a minimum, the reason women live longer than men today but not in the past, has to do with the fact that a number of important non-biological aspects 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. We can see that every country is above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from any country can anticipate to live longer than her younger brother.

The chart above shows that although the female advantage exists everywhere, the cross-country differences are large. In Russia, women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan the difference is less that half a year.

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In rich countries the female advantage in longevity was smaller
Let's examine how the advantage of women in terms of longevity has changed over time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancy when they were born in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men and women in America live 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 growing: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was once very small but it has risen significantly over time.

You can confirm that these principles are also applicable to other countries with information by clicking on the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, علامات الحمل بولد France, and Sweden.