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's the reason why women are more likely to live longer than men? What is the reason is this difference growing as time passes? The evidence is sketchy and we have only incomplete answers. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors that play an integral role in the longevity of women over males, it isn't clear the extent to which each factor plays a role.

In spite of the number of pounds, we know that at a minimum, the reason why women live so much longer than men in the present and not in the past, is to do with the fact that several significant non-biological elements have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are other issues 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 اوضاع الجماع men and women. We can see that all countries are above the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from any country can expect to live longer than her brother.

The chart below shows that while there is a female advantage in all countries, the differences across countries could be significant. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan, the difference is only half a year.

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In rich countries the advantage of women in longevity used to be smaller
We will now examine how the gender advantage in longevity has changed with time. The chart below shows men and women's life expectancies at birth in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Men and women in the United States live longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

There is an ever-widening gap: female advantage in life expectancy used to be extremely small however, it has increased significantly in the past century.

By selecting 'Change Country from the chart, you will be able to determine if these two points also apply to the other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.