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? And Sanctuaires.org/fr/index.php?title=Why_Women_Are_More_Likely_To_Live_Longer_Than_Men why the advantage has grown in the past? The evidence is limited and we have only partial answers. We know that biological, behavioral and environmental factors all contribute to the fact that women are healthier than men; however, we aren’t sure how significant the impact to each of these variables is.
In spite of the number of pounds, we know that at a minimum, the reason women live so much longer than men in the present however not as previously, is to relate to the fact that a number of important non-biological aspects have changed. These factors 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, 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, every country is above the diagonal line of parity – which means that in every country the newborn girl is likely to live longer than a newborn boy.1
This chart shows that, although women have an advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be substantial. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan the gap is only half a year.
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In the richer countries, the advantage of women in longevity was not as great.
Let’s examine how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart shows the life expectancy of males and females at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.
First, 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.
The gap is growing: Although the female advantage in life expectancy was once tiny but it has risen significantly in the past.
Using the option ‘Change country by country’ in the chart, you are able to determine if these two points are applicable to other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.