Why 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 main reason women are more likely to live longer than men? And how does this benefit increase in the past? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only limited solutions. We know there are biological, كيفية ممارسة العلاقة الزوجية فى الاسلام behavioral and environmental variables which all play a part in women who live longer than men, we don't know the extent to which each factor كيفية ممارسة العلاقة الزوجية فى الاسلام plays a role.

It is known that women are living longer than men, regardless of their weight. However it is not due to the fact that certain biological or non-biological factors have changed. What are the factors that 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 men and women. We can see that every country is above the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl in every country can anticipate to live longer than her brothers.

This graph shows that although there is a women's advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be substantial. In Russia women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan the difference is only half a year.

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The female advantage in life expectancy was smaller in developed countries as compared to the present.
Let's examine how the gender advantage in longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows the male and female life expectancy when they were born in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two areas stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Both genders in the United States live longer than they did a century 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 used to be very small but it has risen significantly over time.

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