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. Why do women live much longer than men today, and why has this advantage increased over time? We only have a few clues and the evidence isn't sufficient to reach a definitive conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral and environmental factors which play a significant role in women's longevity more than males, it isn't clear what percentage each factor plays in.

It is known that women live longer than men, regardless of weight. But it is not due to the fact that 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. Other 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, ابر التخسيس 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, every country is 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

This graph shows that even though women enjoy an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries are often significant. In Russia, women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan the difference is only half a year.

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The advantage for women in life expectancy was less in countries with higher incomes than it is now.
Let's examine how the female advantage in life expectancy has changed over time. The next chart compares the male and female lifespans at birth in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two specific points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women in the US are living much, much longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the advantage of women in life expectancy was once tiny It has significantly increased in the past.

By selecting 'Change Country in the chart, you can confirm that the two points are applicable to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.