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? And how is this difference growing as time passes? We only have a few clues and the evidence is not sufficient to support an absolute conclusion. Although we know that there are biological, psychological, and environmental factors which play a significant role in the longevity of women over males, it isn’t clear what percentage each factor plays in.
We have learned that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. But this isn’t because of certain non-biological factors have changed. These 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, تحاميل مهبلية 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 تحاميل مهبلية women. It is clear that all countries are over the diagonal line of parity. This means that a newborn girl in every country can expect to live longer than her younger brother.
This chart illustrates that, although there is a women’s advantage everywhere, cross-country differences can be substantial. In Russia women are 10 years older than men. 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 not as great.
Let’s look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart shows male and female life expectancy when they were born in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two distinct features stand out.
There is an upward trend. Women and men in the United States live longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.
And second, there is an increasing gap: The female advantage in life expectancy used be quite small, but it grew substantially during the last century.
You can check if the points you’ve listed are applicable to other countries with data by selecting the “Change country” option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.
