Why Are Women Living 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. Why do women live so more than men do today, and why have these advantages gotten bigger in the past? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence is not sufficient to reach a definitive conclusion. We recognize that biological, behavioral and environmental factors play a role in the fact that women live longer than men; However, we're not sure what the contribution to each of these variables is.

We are aware that women live longer than men, regardless of weight. But, this is not due to the fact that certain biological or non-biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Certain are more complicated. 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, ابر التخسيس 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 every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl in every country can anticipate to live longer than her brother.

The chart below shows that although women have an advantage in all countries, the differences across countries are often significant. In Russia women have an average of 10 years more than males; while in Bhutan the gap is just half one year.

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In wealthy countries, the female advantage in longevity was not as great.
Let's examine how the female advantage in longevity has changed with time. The next chart compares the life expectancy of males and females at birth in the US during the time period between 1790 and ابر التخسيس 2014. Two distinct features stand out.

First, there's an upward trend. 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.

The gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was tiny, it has increased substantially in the past.

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