life expectancy at birth is around four to six years (seven in Japan). But have women always lived so much longer than men … mortality and fertility are not the reasons. Rather, we argue that the sharp reduction in infectious disease in the early … the ages of 5 and 25. Increased longevity of women, therefore, occurred as the burden of infectious disease fell for all …

life expectancy at birth is around four to six years (seven in Japan). But have women always lived so much longer than men …? They have not. We ask when and why the female advantage emerged. We show that reductions in maternal mortality and … and 25. Both males and females lived longer as the burden of infectious disease fell, but women were more greatly impacted …