Study: US fares poorly in life expectancy stakes

Life expectancy in the US compared with that of other developed countries is "worse" than previously thought because of the impact of the pandemic, decades of societal strain such as increasing gun-related deaths, and a lack of affordable healthcare, according to a study.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health this month, says that more than 50 countries have overtaken the US in life expectancy despite it being one of the world's richest countries.

Steven Woolf, author of the study and a director at the Center on Society and Health at the Virginia Commonwealth Institute in Richmond, Virginia, described the problem as worse than previously thought.

"The US life expectancy disadvantage began in the 1950s and has steadily worsened over the past four decades," Woolf said. "Dozens of globally diverse countries have outperformed the United States."

Norway had the longest life expectancy in 1950, when the US ranked 12th in the world, the study found. In 2019 the US ranked 40th.

By 2020 life expectancy in the US had fallen to 77.4 years. In the US Midwest and South people have shorter lives.

Figures show life expectancy in the US has been in decline since the 1950s. It fell 0.21 years from 1950 to 1954 but rose 0.34 years each year between 1974 and 1982.

However, it fell again by 0.9 years from 77.0 to 76.1 from 2020 to 2021.That was the lowest level recorded from birth since 1996, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That allowed 56 other countries on six continents to overtake US life expectancy rates.

Several other factors have contributed to the shortening of life spans in the US. They include the fallout from the pandemic, which was attributed to the deaths of more than 1.1 million people in the US. In 2020 the US dropped to 46th spot for life expectancy as the virus became the third-leading cause of death in the country, the National Institutes of Health reported.

When New York was the epicenter of the virus at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, funeral directors struggled to cope as hundreds of people died daily.

Michael Lanotte, executive director and chief executive of the New York state Funeral Directors Association, told China Daily at the time: "In the last couple of days there were close to 800 COVID-19 related deaths, most of those occurring down in the New York City areas."

The lack of access to affordable health insurance for many people is also a factor.

Uninsured US people have a 40 percent higher chance of prematurely dying than those who are insured, the Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance found.

Another factor straining life expectancy is guns. About 81 percent of murders in 2021 — 20,958 out of 26,031 — involved a firearm.

Martin Killias, a retired professor of criminology and criminal law at the University of Zurich Law School, Switzerland, said the use and ownership of guns in that country differs from the US, and the issue has not been "politicized".

In Switzerland guns are not seen as "a symbol of freedom", he said.