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 main reason women are more likely to live longer than men? Why has this advantage gotten larger as time passes? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only some answers. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables which all play a part in the longevity of women over males, it isn't clear how much each factor contributes.

In spite of the number of pounds, we know that a large portion of the reason why women live longer than men but not in the past, is to relate to the fact that some fundamental non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that are changing? 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 افضل شامبو وبلسم women. As we can see, all countries are above the diagonal parity line , which means that in every country a newborn girl can expect to live for longer than a new boy.1

This chart illustrates that, although there is a women's advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries could be significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men, while in Bhutan the difference is just half an hour.

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In wealthy countries, the women's advantage in longevity was smaller
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two specific points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both men as well as women in the US live a lot, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy was tiny It has significantly increased over time.

By selecting 'Change Country in the chart, you can confirm that the two points apply to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.