Why Women Live Longer Than Men

Women tend to live longer than men, even under the most difficult conditions like famines and epidemics. While it’s true that women tend to go to the doctor more and engage in less risk-prone activities, behavior alone doesn’t explain this phenomenon. In this episode, demographer Virginia Zarulli tells us about the implications of the startling fact that, in times of extreme hardship, it is often infant girls outliving infant boys that contributes most to the gap in longevity. Neurologist Dena Dubal, who has spent years studying the influence of the second X chromosome that females carry, explains how research into how women age will benefit men, too. And neuroscientist Lisa Mosconi talks about the impact of sex hormones on aging and why women are disproportionately susceptible to certain age-related diseases.

You can listen to Why Women Live Longer Than Men online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Why Women Live Longer Than Men is an episode from The World as You'll Know It by Aventine.

This episode is 34:07 long.

This episode was published on Jun 17, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The World as You'll Know It when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.