{"id":22207,"date":"2025-01-16T03:34:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T02:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intimina.com\/blog\/?p=22207"},"modified":"2025-01-16T05:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T04:29:10","slug":"why-women-live-longer-than-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intimina.com\/blog\/why-women-live-longer-than-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Women Live Longer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For nearly a century in the U.S. and other developed countries, women have outlived men \u2013 and in the U.S., the gap is only growing. Some examples of this disparity in the developed world are cited below:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In France, the average female lifespan is 85.5 years, compared to 79.4 for men.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taiwan\u2019s female life expectancy averages 84.4 years, compared to 77.8 for men.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U.S. has a widening gap, with male life expectancy falling to 73.2 years after the pandemic compared to females\u2019 at 79.1, making it the widest age gap since 1996.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a range of factors that could be contributing to why women have longer average life expectancies than men, from differences in behavioral patterns to lower female infant mortality rates. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This article discusses why men have higher rates of mortality at all ages, as well as the ways that wealth and education minimize this gap, which illustrates how access to quality health care, higher awareness of mental health, and better food can directly contribute to longevity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boys Have Higher Infant Mortality Rates Than Girls<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The disparity in mortality rates begins <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/why-do-women-live-longer-than-men#note-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from birth<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <strong>Newborn boys have a significantly higher chance of being born prematurely<\/strong> as well as higher mortality rates in the first week of life compared to newborn girls, and this gap remains largely the same as they go through infancy. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is partially chromosomal; females have two X chromosomes and males have one X and one Y chromosome, and having <strong>two X chromosomes makes it less likely for certain genetic conditions<\/strong> like hemophilia to be expressed. Moreover, <strong>male infants are more susceptible to <\/strong><\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4072001\/#:~:text=During%20infancy%20and%20childhood%2C%20increased,than%20do%20males%20%5B3%5D.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">infectious diseases<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and infectious diseases tend to be more severe in male infants than females, potentially due to a less developed immune system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Young Men Die At Higher Rates Than Women<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After male babies grow into teenagers and young adults, they remain <strong>more susceptible to \u201cexternal\u201d causes of death<\/strong> such as violence, accidents, poisoning, suicides, and poisonings. As demonstrated by international data collected by Our World In Data, the overall death rates from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/how-do-the-risks-of-death-change-as-people-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ages 15-25 <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are much higher across the board for young men than their female peers, and also persists <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/grapher\/annual-death-rates-in-different-age-groups-by-sex\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">past 25<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This could be potentially attributed to the <strong>surge in testosterone as young men go through puberty<\/strong> as well as a difference in societal expectations for young men and women; <strong>teen boys have long had higher rates of accidents<\/strong>, which is reflected in insurance rates for young men under 25 compared to their female peers. For example, male teen drivers between the ages of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/transportationsafety\/teen_drivers\/teendrivers_factsheet.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">16-19<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the U.S. are three times more likely to die while driving than female ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some studies have correlated the higher rates in accident-caused fatalities among young men with <strong>higher rates of <\/strong><\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfmynews2.com\/article\/news\/verify\/auto-wreck-accident-boys-girls-driver-risk-insurance-premium-wfmy\/83-ede4065e-3cca-45a5-9cd8-8efc81bb77f8#:~:text=Is%20it%20true%20teenage%20boys,be%20involved%20in%20auto%20wrecks%3F&amp;text=Yes%2C%20boys%20are%20more%20likely,prone%20to%20riskier%20decision%2Dmaking.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">risk-taking behavior<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Part of this disparity may be cultural. In many Western (and Eastern) societies, risk-taking behavior is seen as \u201cmasculine\u201d and more encouraged in boys (think \u201cboys will be boys\u201d), while <strong>girls are urged to be more cautious<\/strong> of a range of potential dangers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Disparity Persists Into Old Age\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sex gap in life expectancy is just as stark among senior citizens. Death rates begin <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/how-do-the-risks-of-death-change-as-people-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rising<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> significantly in the last third of life due to a range of natural causes, such as cancers, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, autoimmune diseases, and infections. <strong>Men tend to have higher rates of contracting fatal diseases<\/strong> from the conditions listed above, <strong>and also are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease<\/strong>, which accounts for a significant amount of deaths for the older population at large.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Part of these differences can be explained by gender <strong>differences in behaviors that play a key role in longevity and overall health, such as drug use, smoking, and alcohol. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Occupational risks are also higher in men<\/strong>, as there are many more men doing manual jobs, and these jobs\u00a0 tend to pose higher risks of being injured or killed on the job. Since there are more men in the military, ice-road trucking, and construction (which all have higher than average rates of job-related fatalities), they are more exposed to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/187127\/number-of-occupational-injury-deaths-in-the-us-by-gender-since-2003\/#:~:text=Number%20of%20U.S.%20occupational%20injury%20deaths%202003%2D2021%2C%20by%20gender&amp;text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20there,to%20448%20deaths%20among%20women.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">occupational risks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Gap Is Widening<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In countries like the U.S., women are outliving men by longer and longer. As we noted above, general trends of women outliving men in developed countries can be correlated to differences in behaviors like drinking and smoking habits, drug use, risk-taking behaviors, and occupational choice. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The COVID-19 pandemic also turned out some interesting data; <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2023\/03\/01\/why-american-men-die-younger-than-women-on-average-and-how-to-fix-it.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">men get sicker<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, on average, when they contract COVID, particularly among younger populations. While women still outlive men within the same socioeconomic group, wealthier, more educated men quickly close the gap in average lifespans when compared to women with less access to resources, which emphasizes the ways in which proper nutrition, education, and lifestyle impact longevity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For nearly a century in the U.S. and other developed countries, women have outlived men \u2013 and in the U.S., the gap is only growing. Some examples of this disparity&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":21884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[224,246],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Women Outlive Men Almost Everywhere<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why do women have longer average lifespans than men across the board? 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