Why Are Women Living Longer Than Men

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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 ماذا يحدث بين الزوجين في الحمام بالصور why is this difference growing in the past? The evidence is limited and we're left with only limited answers. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women are healthier than men; however, we do not know how significant the impact of each one of these factors is.

In spite of the weight, we know that at a minimum, the reason why women live longer than men in the present however not as previously, has to have to do with the fact that several important non-biological aspects have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are others 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 line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl from every country could expect to live longer than her brother.

The chart below shows that even though women enjoy an advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries could be significant. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is less that half a year.

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In rich countries the advantage of women in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart plots the male and female lifespans when they were born in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women in America have longer lives than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was quite small It has significantly increased over time.

You can check if these points are also applicable to other countries with data by clicking the "Change country" option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.