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 are more likely to live longer than men? Why does this benefit increase in the past? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence isn’t strong enough to make an absolute conclusion. While we are aware that there are behavioral, biological and environmental factors that play an integral role in women’s longevity more than males, we aren’t sure how much each factor contributes.
Independently of the exact amount, we can say that at a minimum, the reason why women live so much longer than men however not as in the past, has to be due to the fact that certain important non-biological aspects have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, اوضاع الجماع 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 men and women. It is clear that all countries are over the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in every country can be expected to live for longer than her brothers.
This chart is interesting in that it shows that the advantage of women exists across all countries, the global differences are significant. In Russia, women live 10 years more than men. In Bhutan the difference is just half a year.
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In rich countries the female advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let’s look at the way that female advantages in longevity has changed over time. The next chart plots the male and female lifespans at birth in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two aspects stand out.
There is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.
Second, the gap is increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy was very small, it has increased substantially over time.
You can verify that these principles are also applicable to other countries with data by clicking the “Change country” option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.
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Why women are more likely to live longer than men? 4 years ago