The United States has the lowest life expectancy among high-income English-speaking countries, while Australia continues to have the highest life expectancy. Poverty and poor health have a big impact on the disparity in outcomes, but researchers say a major factor is also the number of young Americans dying from drug abuse, car crashes and firearms.
Researchers at the University of Southern California and Pennsylvania State University compared life expectancy in six English-speaking countries – the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand – between 1990 and 2019.
They broke down the data by gender, age and 18 categories of cause of death, including a range of diseases as well as “preventable deaths” such as accidents and overdoses.
Australia has achieved the highest life expectancy in the English-speaking world over the past three decades, and these results suggest that the country will continue to lead the pack. According to recent research, life expectancy for men in Australia, the country with the highest life expectancy, was 4.75 years higher than in the United States, the country with the worst life expectancy.
“One of the main reasons life expectancy in America is so much lower than in other high-income countries is that our younger people are more likely to die from largely preventable causes of death, such as drug overdoses, car accidents and homicide,” study co-author Jessica Ho, an associate professor of sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University, said in a statement.
It is also worth noting that the United States also has a higher mortality rate from cardiovascular disease, which impacts the life expectancy of middle-aged people.
“Some of the latter may be related to a sedentary lifestyle, high obesity rates, unhealthy diet, stress, and smoking history. It is likely that these patterns of unhealthy behaviors put Americans at a disadvantage in terms of their health and vitality,” Ho explained.
The data also showed that there are large geographic inequalities in the United States between different parts of the country. California and Hawaii had some of the highest life expectancies at birth: women averaged 83 to 83.9 years and men 77.5 to 78.4 years. On the other hand, the American Southeast had some of the lowest life expectancies at birth: women averaged 72.6 to 79.9 years and men 69.3 to 74.4 years.
And another interesting fact: in recent years, the UK has fallen to second place among the worst performing countries, while Ireland has seen the biggest gains in life expectancy: life expectancy for men increased by about eight years and for women by more than 6.5 years.
The study offers a few tips for high-income, English-speaking countries looking to increase their life expectancy: Do what Australia does. While Australia has the second-highest obesity rate of the group, it has relatively low rates of smoking, gun ownership and drug-related deaths, all of which the study attributes to “strong public health efforts.”
“The study shows that a comparable country like Australia far surpasses the United States in bringing young adult mortality rates under control. There are very few firearm deaths and homicides, less drug and alcohol use, and a better record of chronic diseases, which indicates lifestyle factors, health behaviors and health care performance,” Ho said.
“Australia is a model of how Americans can do better and achieve not only higher life expectancy but also lower geographic inequality in life expectancy,” she added.
The new study was published in the journal BMJ Open.
