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 are more likely to live longer than men? What is the reason has this advantage gotten larger in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we have only limited solutions. We know there are behavioral, biological as well as environmental factors which play a significant role in the longevity of women over males, العاب زوجية we aren't sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.

We know that women live longer than men, regardless of their weight. However it is not because of certain non-biological factors have changed. What are these changing factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Some are more complex. For example, العاب زوجية (https://glorynote.com) 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. As we can see, every country is above the diagonal line of parity - this means that in all countries a newborn girl can expect to live longer than a new boy.1

The chart below shows that while there is a female advantage across all countries, differences between countries are often significant. In Russia women have a longer life span than men; in Bhutan the gap is just half an hour.

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The advantage women had in life expectancy was smaller in countries with higher incomes than it is today.
Let's now look at how the gender advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The next chart plots male and female life expectancy at birth in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

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

Second, the gap is increasing: While the advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was extremely small but it has risen significantly in the past.

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