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. What is the reason women live longer than men? Why is this difference growing over time? The evidence isn't conclusive and we're left with only limited answers. Although we know that there are biological, psychological, and environmental factors that all play a role in the longevity of women over males, it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

Independently of the exact number of pounds, we know that at a minimum, the reason women live so much longer than men in the present however not as previously, has to be due to the fact that a number of fundamental non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that are changing? Some are well known and صبغ الشعر بالاسود; just click the following web page, relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Other are more complicated. 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 diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from every country could be expected to live for longer than her brothers.

This graph shows that although there is a women's advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than men; in Bhutan the difference is less than half each year.

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The advantage for women in life expectancy was less in developed countries than it is now.
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female life expectancies at the birth in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women living in America are living longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was very small, it has increased substantially over time.

You can confirm that the points you've listed are applicable to other countries with data by clicking the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.