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 makes women live longer than men in the present and why has this advantage increased over time? We only have partial evidence and the evidence isn’t sufficient to draw a definitive conclusion. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors that all play a role in women who live longer than males, we aren’t sure how much each factor contributes.
In spite of how much amount of weight, we are aware that at a minimum, the reason women live longer than men in the present however not as in the past, is to do with the fact that certain fundamental non-biological factors have changed. These factors are changing. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are others that are more intricate. 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. We can see that all countries are above the diagonal parity line ; this means in all countries baby girls can expect to live longer than a newborn boy.1
The chart above shows that while the female advantage exists everywhere, the difference between countries is huge. In Russia women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the difference is just half a year.
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The advantage of women in life expectancy was smaller in countries with higher incomes than it is now.
Let’s examine the way that female advantages in longevity has changed with time. The chart below illustrates the men and women’s life expectancies at the birth in the US between 1790 to 2014. Two specific points stand out.
There is an upward trend. Men and women living in America are living longer than they were a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.
The gap is widening: While the female advantage in life expectancy was once quite small but it has risen significantly in the past.
Using the option ‘Change country in the chart, you will be able to determine if these two points are also applicable to the other countries having available data: Sweden, https://blogswirl.in.net/profile/HoseaColls France and the UK.