In the U.S., life expectancy is nearly six years older for women than it is for men. And this happens throughout the world. Women's higher life expectancy is attributed to a number of factors, including men's greater risk of heart disease due to a lack of estrogen, the fact that men take bigger risks, are more likely to smoke and drink and drive, and that men are more likely to die by suicide.
These are just a few of the reasons why females tend to outlive males. And it’s also true of other species like birds, deer, and whales. But new research published in Science Advances shows that in Medieval England, this wasn’t the case. Researchers found that men and women lived to around the same ages, and life expectancy wasn’t extended for women.
During the Medieval Period, life expectancy was much lower than it is today, at around 32 years old. Some people lived into their 40s and 50s, but few lived into old age. Still, women would have been expected to have a longer stretch.
