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. Why do women live so longer than men and how is this difference growing in the past? There is only limited evidence and the evidence isn't strong enough to make a definitive conclusion. While we are aware that there are behavioral, biological and environmental factors that all play a role in women living longer than males, اوضاع الجماع it isn't clear what percentage each factor plays in.

It is known that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. However this is not 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. It is clear that every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in every country can expect to live longer than her brother.

This chart shows that, although women have an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries could be significant. In Russia, women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan the gap is only half a year.

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The female advantage in life expectancy was smaller in countries with higher incomes that it is today.
Let's examine how the gender advantage in longevity has changed with time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two things stand out.

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

The second is that there is an increasing gap: The female advantage in life expectancy used be very modest however, it has increased significantly over the course of the last century.

You can verify that these points are also applicable to other countries with data by clicking the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.