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. Why do women live longer than men and why does this benefit increase in the past? There isn't much evidence and we're left with only partial answers. Although we know that there are biological, psychological, and environmental factors which play a significant role in the longevity of women over males, it isn't clear how much each one contributes.

In spite of the amount of weight, we are aware that a large portion of the reason women live so much longer than men do today and not previously, is to relate to the fact that a number of key 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 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 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 every country is above the diagonal line of parity. This implies that a baby girl from any country can be expected to live for longer than her brother.

This chart shows that, although women have an advantage everywhere, cross-country differences are often significant. In Russia women live 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan there is a difference of just half a year.

__S.17__
__S.19__
The advantage of women in life expectancy was smaller in developed countries than it is today.
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed over time. The next chart compares male and ابر التخسيس female life expectancy at birth in the US between 1790 and ابر التخسيس 2014. Two distinct points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend: Men as well as women in the US are living much, much longer than they did a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is widening: While the advantage of women in terms of life expectancy was very small, it has increased substantially over time.

By selecting 'Change Country in the chart, you will be able to verify that these two points also apply to the other countries with available data: Sweden, France and the UK.