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Americans have a lower life expectancy than other English-speaking countries, study reveals
Longevity researchers compared the life expectancies of people in the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, over a period of three decades, and found that Australians outlive their American counterparts by four to five years. The Irish also fared well during the study period, seeing the largest gains in life expectancy.
“Yes, we’re doing badly, said senior author Jessica Ho, an associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State. But this study shows what we can aim for. We know these gains in life expectancy are actually achievable because other large countries have already done it.” One thing almost all of us can do is improve our diet that’s a major factor in determining how long we’re likely to live.
Australia trumps the US in terms of life expectancy
Researchers from Penn State University analyzed life expectancy data from six Anglophone (English-speaking) countries the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
They used data from the Human Mortality Database and the World Health Organization Mortality Database, from 1990 and 2019, and broke it down by age, sex, and numerous cause of death categories.
Among other things, they found that Australians had the longest life expectancy at birth, during the study period, out of the six nations. Australian women live four years longer than their American counterparts. The difference among men is five years.
Luck may have nothing to do with it, but the Irish saw the biggest gains in life expectancy during the study period. The lifespan of the average Irish man grew by eight years during the 30-year period, while that of the average woman increased by 6.5 years.
Why is American longevity so much shorter than in other high-income countries?
Lead author Jessica Ho said one of the main drivers explaining why American life expectancy is so much lower than in other comparable countries is that younger people die at higher rates from largely preventable causes of death.
These include drug overdose, car accidents, and homicide.
In other words, deaths among young Americans skew the data. Gun crime and drug overdose bring the average life expectancy of Americans down so that it is the lowest among the six Anglophone countries studied.
Americans also have higher rates of cardiovascular disease mortality. This has to do with a sedentary lifestyle, high rates of obesity, unhealthy diet, stress, and a history of smoking, Ho said. And, depending on who you listen to, not spending enough time acting like a monkey&
“It’s likely that these patterns of unhealthy behaviors put Americans at a disadvantage in terms of their health and vitality.”
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