Why Are Women Living 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 live longer than men? Why is this difference growing over time? There is only limited evidence and the evidence is not strong enough to make an informed conclusion. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women have longer life spans than men, however, we aren't sure how strong the relative contribution of each one of these factors is.

In spite of the precise number of pounds, we know that at least a portion of the reason why women live so much longer than men today but not previously, is to have to do with the fact that a number of 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. There are other issues that are more intricate. 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 all countries are over the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her younger brother.

This chart shows that, even though women enjoy an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries can be substantial. In Russia women are 10 years older than men, while in Bhutan the gap is just half one year.

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In wealthy countries, the women's advantage in longevity was not as great.
Let's look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed with time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at birth in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. and اضيق وضعية للجماع women in the US live a lot, much longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be very small but it has risen significantly over time.

When you click on the option "Change country by country' in the chart, you are able to determine if these two points also apply to the other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.