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 reason women are more likely to live longer than men? What is the reason is this difference growing in the past? The evidence is limited and we’re left with only some solutions. Although we know that there are biological, psychological and environmental factors which all play a part in women’s longevity more than men, we do not know how much each factor contributes.
In spite of the weight, we know that at least part of the reason why women live so much longer than men and not in the past, is to have to do with the fact that several important non-biological aspects have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and Dola.digital/cetacea//profile.php?id=212496 (http://buynolvadexonlineweb.com/) 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, all countries are above the diagonal parity line ; this means that in all countries that a baby girl can be expected to live for longer than a new boy.1
This graph shows that although there is a women’s advantage throughout the world, the differences between countries can be significant. In Russia women have a longer life span than males; while in Bhutan the difference is just half one year.
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The advantage women had in life expectancy was smaller in rich countries than it is now.
Let’s take a look at how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart shows the male and female lifespans when they were born in the US during the time period between 1790 and 2014. Two points stand out.
First, there is an upward trend. Both men as well as women in the US live much, much longer than they did 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.
The gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was very small but it has risen significantly over time.
Using the option ‘Change country in the chart, you are able to confirm that the two points also apply to the other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.
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