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 and why has this advantage increased over time? We have only a small amount of evidence and the evidence isn’t sufficient to support an informed conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological as well as environmental factors which play a significant role in women’s longevity more than men, we don’t know how much each one contributes.
In spite of how much amount of weight, we are aware that at least part of the reason women live so much longer than men today and not in the past, has to be due to the fact that several key non-biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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 diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from every country could anticipate to live longer than her brother.
This chart is interesting in that it shows that, while the advantage for women exists everywhere, the country-specific differences are huge. In Russia women live for ابر التخسيس 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan, the difference is just half a year.
In rich countries the female advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let’s examine how the gender advantage in longevity has changed over time. The next chart compares the male and female lifespans at birth in the US over the period 1790-2014. Two specific points stand out.
There is an upward trend: Men as well as women in the US live much, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.
The second is that there is an increase in the gap between men and women: female advantage in life expectancy used be extremely small however, it has increased significantly over the last century.
You can check if these principles are also applicable to other countries with information by clicking on the “Change country” option in the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.