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. What's the reason women live longer than men? And how is this difference growing in the past? The evidence is sketchy and we have only partial answers. Although we know that there are behavioral, biological 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.

It is known that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. But this isn't because of certain 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. Others 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 you can see, all countries are above the diagonal parity line ; this means in all countries baby girls can expect to live longer than a newborn boy.1

This graph shows that although women have an advantage everywhere, اضيق وضعية للجماع cross-country differences could be significant. In Russia women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan the difference is less than half a calendar year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was much lower in the richer countries than it is today.
Let's look at how the gender advantage in longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female lifespans at birth in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Both men and women in the US live much, much longer than they did 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 extremely small but it has risen significantly over time.

Using the option 'Change country' on the chart, you will be able to check that these two points also apply to the other countries having available data: اضيق وضعية للجماع Sweden, France and the UK.