Why Are Women Living 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 makes women live much longer than men today and why is this difference growing in the past? The evidence is limited and we have only some answers. While we are aware that there are behavioral, biological and environmental variables which all play a part in women living longer than men, we do not know what percentage each factor plays in.

It is known that women live longer than men, regardless of their weight. But it is not due to the fact that certain biological factors have changed. These factors 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. As we can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line - which means that in every country baby girls can expect to live for longer than a new boy.1

The chart above shows that although the female advantage exists in all countries, country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women are 10 years older than males; while in Bhutan the gap is just half a year.

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The advantage women had in terms of life expectancy was lower in the richer countries that it is today.
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at the birth in the US during the period 1790 until 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

There is an upward trend. and افضل كريم للشعر women in the US have a much longer life span longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

There is a widening gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used to be very modest, but it grew substantially during the last century.

When you click on the option "Change country from the chart, you are able to determine if these two points are applicable to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.