Why Do 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. What's the reason why women have a longer life span than men? What is the reason the advantage has grown in the past? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence isn't sufficient to support a definitive conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors that play an integral role in women who live longer than males, افضل كريم للشعر (Glorynote blog entry) we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

We are aware that women live longer than males, regardless of weight. However this is not due to the fact that certain non-biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. 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. We can see that all countries are above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl from any country can anticipate to live longer than her older brother.

This chart shows that, although women have an advantage across all countries, differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan, the difference is less than half a calendar year.

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The advantage women had in terms of life expectancy was lower in rich countries as compared to the present.
Let's look at how the female advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US between 1790-2014. Two areas stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both men as well as 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 increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy used to be extremely small however, it has grown significantly over time.

If you select the option "Change country' on the chart, you are able to check that these two points also apply to the other countries having available data: Sweden, France and the UK.