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 is the reason women live longer than men? What is the reason is this difference growing in the past? The evidence isn't conclusive and we're left with only incomplete answers. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral, and environmental factors which play a significant role in the longevity of women over men, we do not know how much each factor contributes.

In spite of the precise weight, we know that at least part of the reason why women live so much longer than men but not previously, has to have to do with the fact that some key 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. There are other issues that are more intricate. 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 parity line ; it means that in all nations that a baby girl can be expected to live longer than a new boy.1

Interestingly, this chart shows that, while the advantage for women exists across all countries, the cross-country differences are large. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than men, while in Bhutan the gap is less than half one year.

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In the richer countries, the longevity advantage for women was smaller
Let's take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The following chart shows the gender-based and female-specific life expectancy at the time of birth in the US in the years 1790 until 2014. Two areas stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both genders living in America are living longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is increasing: While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was extremely small but it has risen significantly over time.

By selecting 'Change Country by country' in the chart, determine if these two points apply to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and علامات الحمل بولد [similar site] the UK.