Why Women Are More Likely To 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 makes women live more than men do today, and why is this difference growing over time? There is only limited evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to draw a definitive conclusion. We recognize that biological, behavioral and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women have longer lives than men, but we don't know exactly how significant the impact to each of these variables is.

We have learned that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. But this isn't due to the fact that certain biological factors have changed. The factors changing are numerous. 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. We can see that every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in every country can be expected to live for longer than her younger brother.

The chart below shows that although women have an advantage across all countries, differences between countries can be substantial. In Russia women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan, the difference is only half a year.

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In the richer countries, the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's examine how the gender advantage in longevity has changed with time. The following chart shows the male and افضل كريم للشعر female lifespans at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men and women 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 getting wider: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be very small however, it has grown significantly over time.

You can verify that these principles are also applicable to other countries that have data by selecting the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.