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 live more than men do today and why have these advantages gotten bigger over time? There isn't much evidence and we're left with only incomplete answers. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and افضل شامبو وبلسم environmental variables that all play a role in women living longer than males, it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

We have learned that women live longer than men, افضل شامبو وبلسم, visit site, regardless of their weight. However this isn't because of certain 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. 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. As you can see, all countries are above the diagonal parity line , it means that in all nations that a baby girl can be expected to live longer than a new boy.1

This chart shows that, although women have an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries can be significant. In Russia women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan the gap is just half a year.

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The advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was lower in rich countries than it is today.
Let's examine 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 birth in the US in the years 1790-2014. Two aspects stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women living in America are living longer than they used to a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy was extremely small but it has risen significantly with time.

If you select the option "Change country by country' in the chart, you are able to determine if these two points are applicable to other countries that have available data: Sweden, France and the UK.