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. Why do women live longer than men in the present, and why has this advantage increased in the past? There is only limited evidence and the evidence isn’t sufficient to reach an unambiguous conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, psychological and environmental factors which all play a part in the longevity of women over males, we aren’t sure what percentage each factor plays in.

Independently of the exact amount, we can say that at least part of the reason why women live longer than men but not previously, has to have to do with the fact that some significant non-biological elements have changed. What are these factors that have changed? 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, افضل شامبو وبلسم; official website, 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 line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl from any country can anticipate to live longer than her brother.

It is interesting to note that while the female advantage exists in all countries, global differences are significant. In Russia, women live 10 years more than males. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

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In wealthy countries, the longevity advantage for women was previously smaller.

Let’s examine how the female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two aspects stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. and women in the US live much, much longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is getting wider: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be quite small, it has increased substantially over time.

You can check if the points you’ve listed are applicable to other countries with data by clicking on the “Change country” option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.

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