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 makes women live longer than men in the present and why have these advantages gotten bigger over time? The evidence is limited and we're only able to provide limited answers. Although we know that there are behavioral, biological and environmental variables that play an integral role in women's longevity more than males, it isn't clear how much each factor contributes.

In spite of how much amount of weight, we are aware that at least a portion of the reason why women live so much longer than men today however not as in the past, has to do with the fact that certain key non-biological factors have changed. These are the factors that are changing. 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 men and women. It is clear that all countries are over the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in every country can be expected to live for longer than her younger brother.

Interestingly, this chart shows that while the female advantage exists everywhere, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia, women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan, the difference is less that half a year.

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In countries with high incomes, the advantage of women in longevity used to be smaller
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart compares male and female life expectancies at birth in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Both men as well as women in the US live much, much longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, there's a widening gap: The female advantage in life expectancy used to be quite small, but it grew substantially during the last century.

You can check if these points are also applicable to other countries with information by clicking on the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, كيفية إقامة علاقة بالصور and Sweden.