Why Women 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 why have these advantages gotten bigger in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we only have incomplete solutions. We are aware that behavioral, biological and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women are healthier than men; however, we aren't sure what the contribution to each of these variables is.

We know that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. However this is not because of certain non-biological aspects 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, اوضاع الجماع 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. As you can see, every country is above the diagonal line of parity - it means that in all nations baby girls can expect to live for longer than a new boy.1

This chart illustrates that, although there is a women's advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries can be substantial. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males; while in Bhutan the difference is just half each year.

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The advantage for women in life expectancy was smaller in rich countries that it is today.
Let's look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed over time. The next chart plots male and female life expectancies at birth in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men as well as women in the US live a lot, much longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The second is that there is an increasing gap: اوضاع الجماع The female advantage in life expectancy used to be extremely small however, it has increased significantly over the course of the last century.

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, France, and Sweden.