US life expectancy is in freefall as the young and the poor bear the brunt of struggles for shared prosperity
I’m not sure people on my side of the Atlantic fully appreciate quite how much better off the average American is than the average European… from the middle of the income distribution upwards, US households have streaked ahead of every country in the developed world over the past decade.
Such a sustained boom in spending power might, you would imagine, be accompanied by improvements in other indicators of prosperity. Longer and healthier lives, for example. But the two trends are moving in opposite directions.
That the US has a poor record on life expectancy is nothing new. For the best part of a decade, American lives have grown progressively shorter relative to peer countries. But beneath the surface, several striking details demand our attention and an urgent effort to reverse the trend.
What is causing these gaps? Shockingly, America’s mortality problem is driven primarily by deaths among the young. One statistic in particular stood out: one in 25 American five-year-olds today will not make it to their 40th birthday. No parent should ever have to bury their child, but in the US one set of parents from every kindergarten class most likely will.
And this is a very American problem. These young deaths are caused overwhelmingly by external causes — overdoses, gun violence, dangerous driving and such — which are deeply embedded social problems involving groups with opposing interests. Far trickier to tackle than most health issues where everyone is pulling in one direction.
Hard paywall – Closed – Rawr
Orange of Specious
Article URL : https://www.ft.com/content/653bbb26-8a22-4db3-b43d-c34a0b774303