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 live longer than men in the present and how is this difference growing over time? There isn’t much evidence and we’re left with only some answers. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors that all play a role in women living longer than men, we do not know what percentage each factor plays in.
In spite of how much amount, we can say that a large portion of the reason why women live longer than men today and not previously, has to have to do with the fact that a number of important non-biological aspects have changed. What are these new factors? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, علامات الحمل بولد 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 all countries are over the line of parity diagonally. This implies that a baby girl in every country can expect to live longer than her brothers.
The chart below shows that although women have an advantage everywhere, cross-country differences can be substantial. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men, while in Bhutan the difference is just half one year.
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In countries with high incomes, the women’s advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let’s see how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancies at birth in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two areas stand علامات الحمل بولد out.
There is an upward trend. Men and women in the US have a much longer life span 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 terms of life expectancy was very small but it has risen significantly in the past.
It is possible to verify that these are applicable to other countries that have data by clicking the “Change country” option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.
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Why are women living longer than men? 4 years ago