Drop in life expectancy in the United States of America!

07/11/2019

For the fourth time in a row, life expectancy in the United States of America (USA) has continued to drop.

According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), these discouraging statistics are to be explained by the opioid overdose crisis, increased suicide rates, and the slowing down of progresses made in cardiovascular research, treatment, and prevention. Concurrently, there has been an increase in the number of patients suffering from diabetes and obesity.

Based on this negative trend, it would presumably be rather difficult for the USA to catch up with Western and Northern Europe, and particularly with Japan, in terms of life expectancy.

In France, now facing a slower progression of life expectancy compared with the previous decade, such a decline in life expectancy cannot yet be seen. At present, the life expectancy gap between the USA and France is of three years for women and four years for men. It must be noted that this life expectancy gap is even more marked between the USA and Japan. This latter has the highest life expectancy of any country: 90 for women and 84 for men. In comparison, the average life expectancy in the USA is 81 years for women and only 76 for men.

Reference: Overdoses d’opioïdes, suicides…l’espérance de vie est en baisse aux Etats-Unis -  Medscape - 21 oct 2019.