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 in the present, and why have these advantages gotten bigger over time? The evidence isn’t conclusive and we’re left with only partial answers. We know there are biological, behavioral, and environmental factors which all play a part in women living longer than males, we aren’t sure the extent to which each factor plays a role.
Independently of the exact number of pounds, we know that at least part of the reason women live so much longer than men in the present, but not previously, has to relate to the fact that some important non-biological aspects have changed. These are the factors that are changing. 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. As you can see, all countries are above the diagonal line of parity – this means in all countries the newborn girl is likely to live longer than a newborn boy.1
Interestingly, this chart shows that although the female advantage exists everywhere, the global differences are significant. In Russia women have a longer life span than men, while in Bhutan the difference is just half a year.
__S.17__
__S.19__
The advantage of women in life expectancy was smaller in the richer countries that it is today.
Let’s look at how female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below shows men and women’s life expectancies at birth in the US in the years 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.
First, there is an upward trend. and women in the US are living much, much longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.
Second, Woolbrook-dental.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=glorynote.com%2F%25d8%25b4%25d8%25b9%25d8%25b1%2F the gap is growing: Although the advantage of women in life expectancy was quite small but it has risen significantly over time.
It is possible to verify that these principles are also applicable to other countries that have information by clicking on the “Change country” option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.