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. What's the main reason women live longer than men? What is the reason the advantage has grown in the past? The evidence is limited and we only have limited answers. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women live longer than men; However, we're not sure how much the influence of each one of these factors is.

We are aware that women are living longer than men, علامات الحمل بولد regardless of weight. But it is not because of certain biological or non-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 علامات الحمل بولد men and women. It is clear that every country is over the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in every country can expect to live longer than her older brother.

This graph shows that even though women enjoy 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 just half a year.

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In countries with high incomes, the female advantage in longevity used to be smaller
Let's see how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancy at birth in the US in the years 1790 to 2014. Two things stand out.

There is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The second is that there is an ever-widening gap: female advantage in life expectancy used be very small, but it grew substantially in the past century.

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