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? Why the advantage has grown in the past? There isn't much evidence and we're left with only incomplete solutions. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women live longer than men; however, we do not know what the contribution to each of these variables is.

Independently of the exact amount of weight, we are aware that at a minimum, the reason why women live longer than men and not in the past, has to relate to the fact that some significant non-biological elements have changed. What are these changing factors? Some are well known and كيفية إقامة علاقة بالصور relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Some 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 you can see, all countries are above the diagonal parity line , which means that in every country the newborn girl is likely to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

The chart below shows that even though women enjoy an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan, the difference is just half a year.

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In the richer countries, the advantage of women in longevity was not as great.
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancy at the time of birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men 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 growing: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy was once very small but it has risen significantly over time.

By selecting 'Change Country' on the chart, you are able to confirm that the two points also apply to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.