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. Why do women live longer than men in the present and how does this benefit increase over time? The evidence is sketchy and we're only able to provide some solutions. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables 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 the precise amount of weight, we are aware that at least a portion of the reason women live so much longer than men do today but not in the past, has to have to do with the fact that several key non-biological factors have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Certain are more complicated. 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, كيفية ممارسة العلاقة الزوجية فى الاسلام 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 all countries are over the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl from any country can be expected to live for longer than her older brother.

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

__S.17__
__S.19__
In wealthy countries, the female advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The next chart plots male and female life expectancy at birth in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two specific points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men in America live longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy used to be quite small It has significantly increased with time.

You can confirm that these points are also applicable to other countries that have data by clicking on the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.