Why Women Are More Likely To Live Longer Than Men?
We have learned that women are living longer than men, regardless of weight. However it is not due to the fact that certain 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, 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 in every country can anticipate to live longer than her younger brother.
This chart shows that, even though women enjoy an advantage across all countries, differences between countries can be substantial. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan the difference is only half a year.
In the richer countries, the female advantage in longevity was previously smaller.
Let's look at how the female advantage in terms of longevity has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies at birth in the US between 1790-2014. Two distinct features stand out.
The first is that there is an upward trend. Both genders in America live longer than they used to 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 life expectancy used be quite small however it increased dramatically over the last century.
You can confirm that these points 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 افضل كريم للشعر Sweden.