Why 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. What’s the main reason women live longer than men? What is the reason has this advantage gotten larger in the past? The evidence isn’t conclusive and we’re only able to provide some answers. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors all contribute to the fact that women are healthier than men; However, we’re not sure how significant the impact of each one of these factors is.

In spite of the precise number of pounds, we know that at least a portion of the reason women live longer than men in the present but not previously, تحاميل مهبلية is to relate to the fact that several fundamental non-biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. 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, 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 above the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl from any country can be expected to live for longer than her older brother.

It is interesting to note that while the female advantage exists everywhere, the difference between countries is huge. In Russia women are 10 years older than males; while in Bhutan the gap is less than half each year.

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The advantage for women in life expectancy was much lower in developed countries as compared to the present.

Let’s look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Men and women in America have longer lives than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

And second, there is a widening gap: The female advantage in terms of life expectancy used be very modest but it increased substantially in the past century.

It is possible to verify that these points are also applicable to other countries with data by clicking the “Change country” option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.