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 is the reason women live longer than men, and why is this difference growing in the past? We only have partial evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to support an informed conclusion. We recognize that biological, behavioral and environmental factors all contribute to the fact that women live longer than men; but we don't know exactly what the contribution of each one of these factors is.

It is known that women are living longer than men, صبغ الشعر بالاسود (glorynote.com) regardless of their weight. But it is not due to the fact that certain biological factors have changed. These factors 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. We can see that all countries are above the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl from any country can anticipate to live longer than her brothers.

The chart below shows that while there is a female advantage everywhere, cross-country differences can be significant. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was much lower in countries with higher incomes than it is today.
Let's examine how the advantage of women 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 as well as women in the US live much, much longer today than 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 life expectancy was quite small, it has increased substantially with time.

When you click on the option "Change country from the chart, check that these two points also apply to other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.