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's the reason why women have a longer life span than men? And how has this advantage gotten larger in the past? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to draw an informed conclusion. Although we know that there are behavioral, biological, العاب زوجية and environmental factors that all play a role in women's longevity more than men, we don't know the extent to which each factor plays a role.

We have learned that women live longer than males, regardless of weight. However this isn't because of certain biological factors have changed. These factors are changing. 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 women. It is clear that every country is over the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from every country could expect to live longer than her brother.

This chart illustrates that, although women have an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries can be significant. In Russia women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, العاب زوجية the difference is just half a year.

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The female advantage in terms of life expectancy was lower in the richer countries than it is today.
Let's now look at the way that female advantages in longevity has changed with time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancies at the time of birth in the US in the years 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Men and women in America have longer lives than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is widening: While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was very small It has significantly increased over time.

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