Study: US life expectancy 'worse' than thought; 56 nations better

Life expectancy in the US is "worse'' than previously thought when compared to other developed nations because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, decades of societal strain such as increasing gun-related deaths, and a lack of affordable healthcare, according to a study.

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

Steven Woolf, author of the study and a director at the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth Institute, 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 wrote in the study. "Dozens of globally diverse countries have outperformed the United States."

In 1950, Norway had the longest life expectancy. The US ranked 12th then, the study found.

In 2019, Hong Kong had the highest life expectancy in the world; in comparison, the US ranked 40th.

And by 2020, Hong Kong's life expectancy was 85.2 years, according to the United Nations. But the US had fallen to 77.4 years. In the US Midwest and South, people have shorter lives.

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

But it fell again by 0.9 year 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 (CDC). That allowed 56 other countries on six continents to overtake US life expectancy rates.

Several other factors have contributed to a shortening of lifespans in the US. They include the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which was attributed to the deaths of more than 1.1 million Americans. In 2020, the US dropped to the 46th spot as the virus became the third leading cause of death in the US, the National Institutes of Health reported.

When New York City 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 CEO 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 some of the population is also detrimental.

Uninsured Americans have a 40 percent higher chance of dying than those who are insured, the Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance found. In 2002, more than 45,000 Americans died because they didn't have health insurance.

In 2021, the leading causes of deaths were health related, including heart disease, cancer, COVID-19 and accidents from unintentional injuries.

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

More Americans died gun-related deaths in 2021 than any other year, the CDC said. At least 48,830 people died from such injuries.

At least 54 percent or 26,328 people died from a gun-related suicide. Another 43 percent, 20,958 people, died from gun-related murders. There were 549 accidental deaths; 537 were by a gun, involving law enforcement; and 458 were by undetermined circumstances, the CDC said.

As of 2022, Switzerland had a life expectancy of 83 years, but also has high gun ownership rates like in the US.

Martin Killias, a retired professor of criminology and criminal law at the University of Zurich Law School, Switzerland, believes that the use and ownership of guns in Switzerland is different in his country compared with the US, where it hasn't been "politicized". The murder rate is also very low.

Killias told China Daily that in Switzerland "among owners of guns, they are seen as a piece of memory, of a military past, a tool for sports, hunting, target shooting, but not as a symbol of freedom. Therefore, the issue never was a politicized as it always was in the US."