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 more than men do today and how does this benefit increase over time? We only have a few clues and the evidence is not sufficient to reach a definitive conclusion. We know there are biological, behavioral and environmental variables which play a significant role in women's longevity more than males, افضل كريم للشعر it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

Independently of the exact number of pounds, we know that at least a portion of the reason women live longer than men in the present and not previously, is to be due to the fact that a number of important non-biological aspects have changed. The factors changing are numerous. 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 line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from every country could be expected to live for longer than her older brother.

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

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In wealthy countries, the women's advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed over time. The chart below shows men and women's life expectancies at birth in the US in the years 1790 to 2014. Two things stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Both genders in the United States live longer than they used to 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The second is that there is an increasing gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be very modest however it increased dramatically during the last century.

By selecting 'Change Country from the chart, you can determine if these two points apply to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and افضل كريم للشعر the UK.