Exploring the Science: Why Women Speak 3,000 Words a Day More Than Men!

Many people have long believed that women talk more than men. However, a 2007 study from the University of Arizona challenged this idea, showing that both genders use about 16,000 words a day.

Yet, a new and larger study has found some truth to the stereotype, particularly for a specific age group.

According to this research, women aged 25 to 65 speak about 3,000 more words each day than men. However, this difference isn’t noted in younger or older age groups.

Colin Tidwell, a co-author of the study and a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at U of A, said, “There is a strong cross-cultural assumption that women talk a lot more than men. We wanted to see whether or not this assumption holds when empirically tested.”

This newer study looked at 630,000 recordings from 22 studies across four countries, incorporating data from 2,197 participants aged 10 to 94—much larger than the initial study’s 500 college-age participants from Austin, Texas.

For most age groups, men and women spoke a similar number of words. However, women in the 25 to 64 age range averaged around 21,845 words daily, while men spoke about 18,570. This marked difference didn’t appear in younger people (ages 10–24) or older adults (65 and older).

Why do women tend to talk more during this stage of life? One possibility is that caregiving roles may play a part. As women often take on primary caregiving responsibilities, they are likely to have more verbal interactions with children during these years.

Study author Matthias Mehl pointed out, “Gender-linked differences in child rearing and family care could account for this difference.” He also noted that while biological or generational factors were considered, they didn’t play a major role here, as the differences weren’t apparent in younger adults.

Interestingly, researchers observed that overall, people may be talking less these days, possibly due to the rise of digital communication. As texting and online messaging become more common, spoken conversations could continue to decline across all demographics.

This study sheds light on how men and women communicate, showing that while women may talk more than men, it’s not a universal truth—it varies by age and life stage.