One in 25 American five-year-olds today will not make it to their 40th birthday
One in 25 American children will miss their 40th birthday, according to a shocking analysis that exposes the abysmal life expectancy in the US.
An analysis found that guns, drugs and other preventable deaths are killing American youth and lowering life expectancy. Of the current five-year-old American population, one in 25 will not live to reach their 40th birthday.
The average American lives 77.2 years, less than the 80.9 years of life in the UK, 82.8 in France and 82.3 in Spain.
The average person in America will also live as many years in good health as citizens in the unhealthiest city in all of England, figures show.
The average American has the same healthy life expectancy as the average resident of Blackpool, considered the worst district in England
Unlike its peers, the US suffered an extremely sharp drop in life expectancy in 2020, and it did not recover in 2021. Even if Covid deaths are removed, America still suffered a significant drop in life expectancy that other countries did not had
US residents live an average of only 65 years in good health, according to data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), part of the University of Washington.
Unlike typical life expectancy, a person’s average healthy lifespan is how long they live before being severely hampered by a chronic disease.
Many point to the country’s growing opioid epidemic and gun violence as contributing to both problems.
Analysis by the Financial Times highlights the huge gap in life expectancy between America and any of its closest peers.
It calculated the average healthy life span of every county in England, every state in the US and America as a whole using data from the IHME.
Unlike typical life expectancy, a person’s average healthy lifespan is how long they live before being severely hampered by a chronic disease.
For example, a person who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 65 may live to be 90 years old. Although they would be counted as 90 years old, this statistic would determine that they only live 65 healthy years.
The analysis found that the average American lives only 65 healthy years, well below the country’s average lifespan of 77.
This figure is well below every district in England but one. Blackpool, a famously impoverished town on the island’s northeast coast, also has an average healthy lifespan of 65 years.
In 1992, the town became the poster child for child poverty in England, when photos of an impoverished family from the seaside town made waves in the English press.
Although it is considered a city that has failed both the private and public sectors in the UK, it surprisingly matches the wealthiest country in the world in terms of the overall health of its population.
Things are particularly dire in West Virginia, the least healthy US state.
West Virginians live an average of just 60 healthy years of life, the IHME finds — five years shorter than Blackpool.
The analysis of IHME data also found a staggering number of deaths among young people in the US.
It found that two percent, or one in 50, of children who are five years old today will not make it to 30. The double number, four percent, will not reach 40.
In an analysis of 10 peer countries, he found that their rates ticked just above one percent.
However, this burden mainly falls on young people. Americans who are 75 or older tend to live as long as their peers.
This means major killers of young Americans are lowering life expectancy, including guns, drugs and other avoidable deaths.
In a report last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that gun-related homicides in the U.S. increased by 35 percent during the pandemic.
Overall gun-related injuries increased by 40 percent, the same CDC report found.
While anyone can be affected by gun violence, younger people are more likely to be affected. Every day, about 110 Americans are killed by gun violence.
Guns are the leading child killer in the US, surpassing car accidents in 2019.
Life expectancy in the US fell significantly between 2019 and 2020, by 1.8 years to an average of 77 years. But even before the Covid pandemic, Americans lived about three years less than many of their peers
The number of deaths from fentanyl in the US increased sharply in the 2010s. At the beginning of the decade, 2,666 Americans died of fentanyl overdose. This figure rose to 19,413 in 2016. Covid made the situation even worse, with a record 72,484 deaths recorded in 2021
Meanwhile, the pandemic also spawned a wave of fatal drug overdoses. The CDC recorded more than 100,000 fatal overdoses in 2021, a new record.
These were fueled by the highly potent synthetic opioid fentanyl, responsible for 72,484 of them.
In general, the number of preventable deaths in America far exceeds that of its peers. In a January study of 13 developed countries, the Commonwealth Fund found that the US suffers twice as many preventable deaths as its peers.
According to the Washington DC-based nonprofit’s analysis, 336 out of every 100,000 Americans died needlessly in 2020.
These deaths include those from guns, drugs, homicides, car accidents, and deaths that could have been stopped with preventative medical care.
This is much higher than the figures for Switzerland (130) and Sweden (150). In the UK it was just 194.
In a separate study, the CDC found that the number of drug overdose deaths among American teens doubled over a two-year period — primarily from fentanyl.
This has resulted in US life expectancy falling more than other countries during the pandemic.
As the virus wreaked havoc on people worldwide, in 2020 America suffered a larger drop in lifespan than many of its peers, from 78.8 years to 77 years.
Unlike the UK, Australia and other industry peers, it had no recovery in 2021. In America, longevity continued to fall, falling to 76.4.
This is despite the large amount of money America spends on its health care compared to its peers.
The Commonwealth Fund report found that the US spends 17.8 percent of annual GDP on health care, a figure that has grown rapidly over the past decade.
This also surpasses many other countries, with the second highest of the 13 developed countries included in the study being Germany at 12.8 percent.
The UK spends about 12 percent of its GDP on healthcare costs.