Why Do Women Live Longer? Researchers Try to Answer

Women Outlive Men

Why Do Women Live Longer? Researchers Try to Answer

Scientists are busy searching for answers to a question that has long puzzled them: why women live longer than men, and why men die earlier than their wives. A new study has attempted to uncover the reasons for this phenomenon and reach an answer.

The report, which reviewed the study and its results on the American website "Psychology Today," states that, on average, men die 5.4 years earlier than women globally. Although the exact number of years varies from country to country, this phenomenon exists worldwide and across cultures.

According to the report, in the United States, for example, the mortality gap is 5.8 years in favor of women. Authorities say that unintentional injuries, diabetes, suicide, homicide, and heart disease are the main factors contributing to men dying earlier than women. However, the new study attempts to find a different perspective to understand why men die earlier than women.

The new study, published on October 1, 2025, used an evolutionary perspective to understand why there is such a large gap in mortality between men and women. It focused on whether a lifespan gap between males and females could also be observed in animals. To this end, the scientists analyzed data on adult life expectancy from 528 mammal species and 648 bird species that were kept in zoos or lived in the wild. Like human males, other male mammals often die younger than other female mammals.

The results for the 528 mammal species were similar to those observed in humans. In 381 of the 528 mammal species (72 percent), male animals died younger than female animals. Only 5 percent had a lifespan gap favoring males, while the remaining species showed no clear differences between male and female animal life expectancy. Nearly 40 percent of mammal species had a very large lifespan gap favoring females. The age gap between male and female mammals was 12 percent.

Chimpanzees and gorillas showed similar age gaps in favor of females, just like humans. According to the researchers, this confirms that males dying younger than females is the rule, not the exception. It also shows that the mortality gap is not unique to humans. 

One factor that explained some of the findings in this study was size differences between male and female animals. In species where male animals were significantly larger than females, the age gap was larger. Furthermore, female caregiving was a contributing factor to the age gap, as mothers generally tend to take fewer risks due to their responsibility for their children, which may explain why mothers have a higher life expectancy.