Why 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 longer than men and why does this benefit increase in the past? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to reach an informed conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological, and environmental factors which all play a part in the longevity of women over males, we aren't sure how much each one contributes.

We are aware that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. But this is not due to the fact that certain non-biological aspects have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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. As we can see, all countries are above the diagonal parity line - which means that in every country a newborn girl can expect to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

It is interesting to note that while the female advantage exists across all countries, the difference between countries is huge. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is only half a year.

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In wealthy countries, the advantage of women in longevity was smaller
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at birth in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Men and women in the US have a much longer life span longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, العاب زوجية the gap is getting wider: Although the advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was very small but it has risen significantly over time.

Using the option 'Change country by country' in the chart, you can confirm that the two points apply to the other countries with available information: العاب زوجية Sweden, France and the UK.