Why Do Women 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 how has this advantage increased over time? There isn't much evidence and we only have limited solutions. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors contribute to the fact that women have longer life spans than men, however, we aren't sure how much the influence of each of these factors is.

We have learned that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. But it is not because of certain non-biological aspects have changed. These variables are evolving. 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 every country is above the diagonal parity line - which means that in every country that a baby girl can be expected to live longer than a new boy.1

The chart above shows that although the female advantage exists in all countries, global differences are significant. In Russia women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the gap is just half a year.

__S.17__
__S.19__
The advantage of women in life expectancy was much lower in rich countries than it is today.
Let's examine how the gender advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female life expectancy at the birth in the US in the years 1790 to 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

First, ماذا يحدث بين الزوجين في الحمام بالصور there is an upward trend. Both men as well as women in the US have a much longer life span longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in life expectancy used to be quite small It has significantly increased with time.

By selecting 'Change Country from the chart, you will be able to confirm that the two points are applicable to the other countries with available information: Sweden, France and the UK.