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 is the reason women have a longer life span than men? And how is this difference growing over time? The evidence isn’t conclusive and we have only some answers. While we are aware that there are biological, behavioral, and environmental factors that play an integral role in women’s longevity more than men, we don’t know how much each factor contributes.
We have learned that women live longer than men, regardless of weight. But it is not due to the fact that certain biological or non-biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, Assistenza.atala.it/auth/setlanguage/EN/aHR0cHM6Ly9nbG9yeW5vdGUuY29tLyVEOCVBNyVEOCVBOCVEOCVCMS0lRDglQTclRDklODQlRDglQUElRDglQUUlRDglQjMlRDklOEElRDglQjMv 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 we can see, all countries are above the diagonal parity line , this means in all countries a newborn girl can expect to live longer than a newborn boy.1
This graph shows that even though women enjoy an advantage in all countries, the differences across countries can be substantial. In Russia, women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of less than half a calendar year.
__S.17__
__S.19__
In the richer countries, the advantage of women in longevity was previously smaller.
Let’s look at how the female advantage in longevity has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies at birth in the US from 1790 until 2014. Two distinct points stand out.
First, there is an upward trend. Women and men living in America are living longer than they used to 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.
Second, the gap is widening: While the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was tiny but it has risen significantly in the past.
Using the option ‘Change country’ on the chart, you can confirm that the two points apply to the other countries having available data: Sweden, France and the UK.