It seems that women consistently outlive men in every age cohort. Fetal boys die more often than fetal girls. Baby boys die more often than baby girls. Little boys die more often than little girls. Teenage boys, 20-something boys, 30-something boys — in every age group, the rate of death for guys is higher than for women. The difference widens when we hit our 50s and 60s. Men gallop ahead, then the dying differential narrows, but death keeps favoring males right to the end. …

First off, whatever we males are doing wrong, nature seems to know about it. Because when human babies are conceived, says , “the ratio of males to females … has been estimated to be from 107 to 170 males per 100 females.” The storks, it seems, drop extra boy babies into wombs, almost as if they know what’s coming. But even with a boost at conception, male fetuses don’t make it out of the uterus as often as female fetuses. The death differential, says the study, “has been estimated to be from 111 to 160 males per hundred females.” So miscarriages are mostly male. …

Then come birthdays. More boy babies get born than girl babies. This is true all over the world. In America, it’s 105 males for every 100 females. But as soon as they’re out, the boys start to go. Male babies born prematurely die more often than females. Birth weight is not as strong a predictor as gender. You can be born impossibly small, and if you’re a girl you are still slightly more likely to make it through.