10.45 The Low Life Expectancy of Americans
U.S. citizens spend a lot of money on health care. Yet in 2021 Khaled Dajani wrote:
Americans have among the lowest life expectancy of high-income countries — 77.3 years versus Switzerland, for example, at 83.2 years. The adult chronic disease burden stands at 24.6% of the population, compared to an average of 18% across these same countries. Obesity defined as a BMI of 30 or more is at a staggering 40% in the United States, compared to an average of 21% in the group.
When I read a paragraph like the above I wonder why Americans are so fat and how much that contributes to America's low life expectancy and high health costs.
Samuel Klein wrote a review of a book titled Fat land: how Americans became the fattest people in the world. Samuel wrote:
We are in the midst of a national obesity crisis, and Americans are getting heavier. Today, about 65% of adults and 15% of children and adolescents in the US are overweight or obese... In the 1970s and 1980s, fast-food restaurants discovered the profitability of “value meals” (e.g., packaging high-profit drinks and french fries with low-profit burgers) and of “supersizing” (e.g., tripling the serving size of McDonald’s french fries from 200 kcal in 1960 to 610 kcal today). Moreover, the percentage of meals eaten away from home doubled between the 1970s and the 1990s, and eating out usually meant eating more. Finally, school systems encouraged unhealthy eating practices among children by accepting soft drink and fast-food contracts because they provide large commissions for financially strapped schools.
In the video below a person decided to find out why so many Americans are overweight.
At the same time as calorie intake went up exercise went down. Samuel Klein wrote:
In the 1980s, television viewing became the predominant form of leisure activity. Computers and computer games, sedentary jobs, long commutes, sprawling suburbs with no sidewalks, and unsafe neighborhoods limit our desire and ability to move. School budget cuts have resulted in a reduction in sports teams and physical education classes; by the end of the 1980s, Illinois was the only state that required daily physical education.
So now we have some of the reasons why Americans are so fat but how much does that contribute to disease? The U.S. government posted a web page about how obesity contributes to disease. Here is a picture they posted about the contribution of obesity to cancer.
Still want to munch on those donuts, fries and that big bottle of soda as you play that game of Mario on your Nintendo Switch? At least Mario is getting exercise rescuing Princess Peach from Bowser. Your finger is getting exercise.
That's just obesities contribution to cancer. The government web page also says that obesity leads to
Obesity also increased the mortality of people who had Covid 19.
What about drug use? Drug use kills a lot of Americans. How does that compare with the rest of the world? CBS News reported in 2008 that:
Despite tough anti-drug laws, a new survey shows the U.S. has the highest level of illegal drug use in the world. The World Health Organization's survey of legal and illegal drug use in 17 countries, including the Netherlands and other countries with less stringent drug laws, shows Americans report the highest level of cocaine and marijuana use. For example, Americans were four times more likely to report using cocaine in their lifetime than the next closest country, New Zealand (16% vs. 4%), Marijuana use was more widely reported worldwide, and the U.S. also had the highest rate of use at 42.4% compared with 41.9% of New Zealanders. In contrast, in the Netherlands, which has more liberal drug policies than the U.S., only 1.9% of people reported cocaine use and 19.8% reported marijuana use.
The laws in the U.S. are not so strict anymore and drug use has gone up. Marijuana is legal and in the last couple of years (2024 and 2025) weed stores have been opening up all over NYC.
Crime could explain lower life expectancy. There are many countries with higher crime than the United States however most European countries have lower crime rates. You can see that in the following graph.
Find more statistics at Statista
Those numbers are from 2000 to 2021. Europe has allowed in many migrants who have brought crime with them as has America so these numbers probably are different now. However we can see that within the last decades there are a lot of reasons that lower the life expectancy of Americans that have nothing to do with American health care. Yet American health care is expensive. Could the cost of health care in the U.S. be lowering life expectancy? A 2022 National survey found that 28% of people delay or avoid getting health care in the U.S. because of the cost. This is true even though most adults (90%) have health insurance. Insurance only covers part of medical costs and requires that people pay a deductible which is a certain amount before the insurance pays. More than 40% of U.S. households in 2024 did not have enough assets to pay a typical private plan deductible. People with lower incomes, people with worse health status, and Black Americans were more likely to have significant medical debt. It stands to reason that if people avoid medical care they need that will lead to lower life expectancy.
In countries that provide free medical care, there is also delay for medical care but that delay comes from the government. That is the subject of the next lesson.
Click Here to Take Quiz and Earn Points
 Lesson List |
