Why Are Women Living 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 so longer than men in the present, and why is this difference growing in the past? The evidence is limited and we're left with only partial solutions. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors which play a significant role in women's longevity more than males, we aren't sure how much each factor contributes.

In spite of the precise amount, we can say that at a minimum, the reason why women live so much longer than men today and not previously, has to relate to the fact that a number of key non-biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? 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. It is clear that every country is above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from every country could expect to live longer than her brother.

The chart above shows that while the female advantage exists across all countries, the cross-country differences are large. In Russia women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of less that half a year.

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In the richer countries, the advantage of women in longevity was smaller
Let's see how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The next chart plots the male and female lifespans when they were born in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

There is an upward trend. Women and men in the United States live 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 widening: While the female advantage in life expectancy used to be very small, صبغ الشعر بالاسود - glorynote.com, it has increased substantially in the past.

When you click on the option "Change country' on the chart, you are able to verify that these two points are also applicable to the other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.