Why do women live longer than men?

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 why women live longer than men? Why has this advantage gotten larger over time? The evidence is sketchy and we're left with only limited solutions. Although we know that there are biological, psychological, and environmental factors that play an integral role in the longevity of women over males, we aren't sure how much each one contributes.

It is known that women are living longer than males, regardless of weight. However this is not due to the fact that certain non-biological aspects have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Other are more complicated. For اوضاع الجماع 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 اوضاع الجماع 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, every country is above the diagonal parity line ; this means in all countries the newborn girl is likely to live longer than a new boy.1

The chart above shows that while the female advantage exists in all countries, cross-country differences are large. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of less than half a calendar year.

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The female advantage in terms of life expectancy was lower in countries with higher incomes that it is today.
Let's examine how the female longevity advantage has changed over time. The chart below illustrates the men and women's life expectancies at the birth in the US from 1790 to 2014. Two aspects stand out.

The first is that there is an upward trend. Women and men in America live longer than they were 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is getting wider: Although the female advantage in terms of life expectancy was tiny but it has risen significantly over time.

If you select the option "Change country by country' in the chart, you will be able to determine if these two points are also applicable to the other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.