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 is the reason women live longer than men in the present and how have these advantages gotten bigger in the past? The evidence is limited and we only have incomplete answers. We know that behavioral, biological and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women have longer lives than men, However, we're not sure how strong the relative contribution to each of these variables is.

It is known that women live longer than men, regardless of weight. However this isn't because of certain biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Other are more complicated. For example, اوضاع الجماع 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 all countries are above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in every country can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

The chart above shows that although the female advantage exists in all countries, country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than men; in Bhutan the gap is just half an hour.

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In the richer countries, the women's advantage in longevity was smaller
Let's now look at how the gender advantage in longevity has changed over time. The next chart plots the life expectancy of males and females at birth in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both men and women in the US are living much, much longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

There is an increase in the gap between men and women: female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be quite small but it increased substantially during the last century.

By selecting 'Change Country by country' in the chart, you will be able to confirm that the two points are also applicable to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.