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 are more likely to live longer than men? What is the reason is this difference growing over time? The evidence is sketchy and افضل كريم للشعر we only have incomplete answers. We know there are biological, psychological, and environmental factors which all play a part in the longevity of women over men, we don't know how much each factor contributes.

It is known that women live longer than men, regardless of weight. But, this is not because of certain biological factors have changed. What are these changing factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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. We can see that every country is over the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl in every country can expect to live longer than her younger brother.

This chart is interesting in that it shows that while the female advantage exists across all countries, the difference between countries is huge. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the gap is just half a year.

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In the richer countries, the longevity advantage for women was not as great.
Let's see how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below shows gender-based and female-specific life expectancy at the time of birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is growing: Although the advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was quite small, it has increased substantially with time.

You can confirm that these principles are also applicable to other countries with information by clicking on the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and افضل كريم للشعر Sweden.