Why Do Women Live 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 is the reason women are more likely to live longer than men? Why is this difference growing as time passes? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence isn't strong enough to make an unambiguous conclusion. We recognize that biological, behavioral and علامات الحمل بولد environmental factors contribute to the fact that women are healthier than men; However, we're not sure how much the influence of each one of these factors is.

It is known that women live longer than men, regardless of their weight. But it is not because of certain 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 all countries are above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in all countries can expect to live longer than her older brother.

This chart is interesting in that it shows that, while the advantage for women exists in all countries, global differences are significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan the gap is less than half a calendar 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 female advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows the men and women's life expectancies at the time of birth in the US during the period 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men 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.

The gap is growing: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy was quite small however, it has grown significantly over time.

Using the option 'Change country' on the chart, you can verify that these two points apply to the other countries with available data: Sweden, علامات الحمل بولد France and the UK.