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 makes women live more than men do today, and why is this difference growing in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we have only some solutions. We know there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors that play an integral role in women living longer than males, it isn't clear what percentage each factor plays in.

We are aware that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. But this isn't due to the fact that certain non-biological aspects have changed. What are these new factors? 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 كيفية ممارسة العلاقة الزوجية فى الاسلام men and women. As you can see, كيفية ممارسة العلاقة الزوجية فى الاسلام every country is above the diagonal parity line - it means that in all nations the newborn girl is likely to live for longer than a new boy.1

This graph shows that although there is a women's advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the gap is only half a year.

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The advantage women had in life expectancy was much lower in the richer countries as compared to the present.
Let's now look at how the advantage of women in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart plots the life expectancy of males and females at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Both genders in America have longer lives than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

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

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