According to a new study, Americans have the lowest life expectancy compared to other English-speaking countries.

The Pennsylvania State University researchers who conducted the study compared death rates from 1990 to 2019 in six English-speaking countries and found that people in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand live longer on average than their American counterparts.

In the United States, the average life expectancy for men is 76.5 years, while for women it is about 81.5 years. In Australia, however, women live almost four years longer and men five years longer than both men and women in America.

The study also found that men and women in California and Hawaii lived longer than other Americans – although not as long as Australians – while life expectancy for people in the Southeast is well below the U.S. average (72.6 years for women, 69.3 years for men).

The author of the study attributes the lower rates to the fact that more young people in the United States die from preventable deaths such as drug overdoses, murder and car accidents than in other countries. In addition, the death rate from cardiovascular disease is higher among middle-aged Americans.

Unlike the United States, other English-speaking countries have strict gun laws, fewer smokers, and universal healthcare, all of which can lead to better outcomes.

“One lesson we Americans can learn about life expectancy by looking at comparable countries is where the frontier of best performance lies,” said Jessica Ho, associate professor of sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University and lead author of the study.

“Yes, we are doing poorly, but this study shows what goals we can pursue. We know that these increases in life expectancy are actually achievable because other large countries have already done so.”

2024 New York Daily News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.