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 are more likely to live longer than men? What is the reason the advantage has grown in the past? We only have a few clues and the evidence isn't sufficient to support an informed conclusion. We know there are behavioral, biological and environmental factors that play an integral role in women living longer than men, we don't know what percentage each factor plays in.

In spite of the weight, we know that at least a portion of the reason women live longer than men in the present however not as previously, is to be due to the fact that some fundamental non-biological factors have changed. What are these factors that have changed? Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. There are other issues 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 كيفية ممارسة العلاقة الزوجية فى الاسلام (This Web-site) 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 , which means that in every country the newborn girl is likely to live for longer than a newborn boy.1

It is interesting to note that while the female advantage exists in all countries, difference between countries is huge. In Russia women have a longer life span than men; in Bhutan the difference is less than half an hour.

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In wealthy countries, the advantage of women in longevity was smaller
Let's examine how the gender advantage in longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows male and female life expectancy at birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two points stand out.

There is an upward trend. Men and women 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, it has increased substantially over time.

You can check if these are applicable to other countries with data by clicking the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and Sweden.