Everywhere in the world women live longer than men. There is a broad consensus among the scholars that both biological and social forces account for this reality. Arguments in support of biological influences are:
1) Females have greater longevity among mammals and primates, not just humans
2) Infant mortality is higher among males than females
3) Female longevity is higher in ‘cloistered’ populations (monks and nuns) leading the same lifestyle in social terms
Purely due to biology, women are expected to live up to 2 years longer than men, on average. Yet, in reality, the gap in longevity is higher. Life expectancy of women in Russia is 10 years higher compared to men. Among Jews in Israel it is 3.5 years higher. The fact that, for most countries, the gap is above the estimated biological gap and the fact of wide variation of women’s advantage across space and time strongly signal the presence of social factors. ‘Something biological’ simply cannot vary that much.
What kills men more than women, and it is not due to biology in the strict sense, is what epidemiologists call the “avoidable mortality” -mortality that can be avoided , quite literally- if people behave differently, i.e. look after their health, consult doctors, avoid substance abuse, do not smoke, do not drink excessively. When women’s behaviour becomes men-like with respect to health, their longevity comes closer to men’s. When men’s behaviour becomes women-like, their longevity starts resembling women’s.