Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Life Expectancy in the U.S. Continues to Decline


Life expectancy in the U.S. has fallen for the second year in a row, according to the CDC. 

Back in 2015 the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the U.S. 31st out of 183 countries in terms of life expectancy; right between Cuba and Costa Rica.  And then things began to go downhill.  In 2015, life expectancy in the U.S. fell for the first time in a long time (see this blog, Dec. 9, 2016), and now the CDC reports that it has fallen again in 2016, the latest year for which there are complete data.

Although we can argue about whether or not two years in a row is the beginning of a long-term trend, surely this is not a good sign.  Developed and developing countries generally report increases in longevity nearly every year, reflecting better health care, more stringent safety standards, better environmental conditions, fewer wars, and so on.  That's what the U.S. did, at least until two years ago.

Among the top ten causes of death each year, three stand out as largely responsible for increased death rates over the past two years, according to a CNN report: unintentional injuries, Alzheimer's disease, and suicides.  Unintentional injuries include accidental drug overdose deaths, of which there were 63,000 in 2016!  The "war on drugs" isn't working, it seems.

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