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's the reason women live longer than men? And how is this difference growing as time passes? There is only limited evidence and the evidence isn't sufficient to support a definitive conclusion. We know there are behavioral, biological as well as environmental factors which all play a part in women's longevity more than men, صبغ الشعر بالاسود we do not know how much each one contributes.

In spite of the precise amount of weight, we are aware that at least part of the reason women live so much longer than men do today but not in the past, has to be due to the fact that some important non-biological aspects have changed. What are the factors that are changing? Some are well known and 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. It is clear that every country is above the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl from any country can be expected to live for longer than her older brother.

This graph shows that although women have an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries can be significant. In Russia women have a longer life span than men. In Bhutan the difference is less than half a year.

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In countries with high incomes, the longevity advantage for women was smaller
Let's look at the way that female advantages in terms of longevity has changed over time. The chart below shows male and female life expectancy at the time of birth in the US between 1790 until 2014. Two areas stand out.

First, there is an upward trend: صبغ الشعر بالاسود Men and women in the US live a lot, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy was extremely small however, it has grown significantly in the past.

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