US slips to 42nd position in life expectancy

click on the title above for the article in Ecconomic Times

WASHINGTON: The United States has fallen behind many industrialised nations in life expectancy rankings, although Americans are living longer than ever, a media report said.

Fortyone countries have gone past the US, which include not only Japan and many in Europe but also Jordan, Guam and the Cayman islands, the report said.

"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," Dr Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington has been cited in the report.

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. The life expectancy now ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Centre for Health Statistics.

Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years, followed by Japan, Macau, San Marino and Singapore.

The shortest life expectencies were clustered in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has been hit hard by an epidemic of HIV and AIDS, as well as famine and civil strife. Swaziland has the shortest, at 34.1 years, followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

It is being pointed out that several factors have contributed to the United States falling behind other industrialised nations.

Heading the list is the fact that 45 million Americans lack health insurance as opposed to universal health care in Canada and several countries in Europe.

Besides, US has one of the highest obesity rates in the world with nearly one-third of adults of 20 years and above obese and about two thirds are overweight, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Racial disparities are also seen as a factor as Black Americans have an average life expectancy of 73.3 years, five years shorter than white Americans.

Black American males have a life expectancy of 69.8 years, slightly longer than the averages for Iran and Syria and slightly shorter than in Nicaragua and Morocco, it has been pointed out.

The report published in The Washington Post says that forty countries, including Cuba, Taiwan and most of Europe had lower infant mortality rates than the US in 2004. The US rate was 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births. It was 13.7 for Black Americans, the same as Saudi Arabia.

Murray said improved access to health insurance could increase life expectancy. But, he predicted, the US won't move up in the world rankings as long as the healthcare debate is limited to insurance.

Policy makers should also focus on ways to reduce cancer, heart disease and lung disease, said Murray. He advocates stepped-up efforts to reduce tobacco use, control blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and regulate blood sugar.