Women more likely to survive worst conditions than men – Study

Women have better chances to survive than men in the worst of circumstances such as famines and epidemics, a new study revealed.

Researchers at the U.S. Duke University and the University of Southern Denmark examined about 250 years of mortality data for people whose lives were cut short by famine, disease and misfortunes, to study the life expectancy gender gap between females and males.

Their findings, published in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were released on Tuesday.

The researchers found that the behavioural differences were the least remarkable between both genders in infancy and the fact that females have an edge during that period suggests at least in part that biological factors plays a decisive role in giving women a longer expectancy during adulthood.

The data covered seven populations…