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 live longer than men? And why does this benefit increase over time? There isn't much evidence and we have only partial solutions. Although we know that there are biological, behavioral as well as environmental factors that all play a role in women's longevity more than males, it isn't clear what percentage each factor plays in.

Independently of the exact number of pounds, we know that at least part of the reason why women live longer than men in the present however not as previously, has to have to do with the fact that certain fundamental non-biological factors have changed. These variables are evolving. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others 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. We can see that every country is above the line of parity diagonally. This means that a newborn girl in all countries can anticipate to live longer than her brothers.

The chart above shows that the advantage of women exists in all countries, global differences are significant. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than males. In Bhutan, the difference is less that half a year.

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The advantage of women in life expectancy was smaller in developed countries than it is now.
We will now examine how the female advantage in longevity has changed over time. The following chart shows male and female life expectancy when they were born in the US between 1790 and 2014. Two areas stand out.

There is an upward trend. Both men as well as women in the US have a much longer life span longer today than a century ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

The gap is increasing: While the advantage of women in life expectancy used to be extremely small but it has risen significantly in the past.

You can confirm that these points are also applicable to other countries with data by selecting the "Change country" option on the chart. This includes the UK, France, and glorynote.com Sweden.