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 makes women live longer than men and why has this advantage increased over time? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only some answers. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological and environmental factors that play an integral role in women who live longer than men, we don't know how much each factor contributes.

We know that women are living longer than men, افضل كريم للشعر regardless of weight. However it is not due to the fact that certain biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Certain 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. We can see that every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her brother.

This graph shows that while there is a female advantage everywhere, cross-country differences can be substantial. In Russia women have a longer life span than men. In Bhutan the difference is less than half an hour.

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In countries with high incomes, the female advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below illustrates the men and women's life expectancies at the time of birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

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

Second, the gap is increasing: While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was quite small however, it has grown significantly in the past.

It is possible to verify that these points are also applicable to other countries with information by clicking on the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.