How does US life expectancy stack up? New study reveals surprising insights
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A new study revealed that the United States has the shortest life expectancy for English-speaking countries, while Australia had the highest life expectancy.
The study was published by researchers, led by Penn State, in the BMJ Journal.
The team of researchers compared data from several Anglophone countries, such as the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. They studied data from the Human Mortality Database and the World Health Organization Mortality Database between 1990 and 2019, analyzing numbers by sex, age and 18 individual and comprehensive cause of death categories, including cancers, drug- and alcohol-related deaths, firearms and motor vehicle collisions.
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How does the US life expectancy compare to other countries?
The study noted that the United States has been at the bottom of the list since the 1990s, while Australia has been at the top of the list for the last three decades despite being home to some of the world's deadliest animals.
"One lesson we Americans can learn about life expectancy from looking at comparable countries is where the frontier of best performance lies," Lead researcher Jessica Ho, said in a press release. "Yes, we’re doing badly, but this study shows what can we aim for. We know these gains in life expectancy are actually achievable because other large countries have already done it."
According to the study, American women are living an average of almost 81.5 years while men are living an average of 76.5 years.
The study pointed out that Australian women are living four more years than their American counterparts, while Australian men are living five more years than American men.
Ireland made the largest gain in their life expectancy, with men living nearly eight years longer and women living more than six years longer.
US life expectancy broken down by region
Researchers said the U.S. life expectancy varied widely across different regions, not reflected in other countries.
For instance, women and men in California and Hawaii had some of the highest life expectancies at birth, with women averaging 83 to 83.9 years and men averaging 77.5 to 78.4 years.
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The American Southeast had some of the lowest life expectancies at birth of all subnational regions studied, with women averaging 72.6 to 79.9 years and men averaging 69.3 to 74.4 years.
Why does the US have a shorter life expectancy compared to similar countries?
"One of the main drivers of why American longevity is so much shorter than in other high-income countries is our younger people die at higher rates from largely preventable causes of death, like drug overdose, car accidents and homicide," Ho continued.
How can the US improve its life expectancy?
Researchers said Australia can provide the U.S. on how to improve life expectancy. The two countries has similarities when it comes to personal vehicle ownership and use of firearms. However, Australia has a number of gun control policies.