Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the rights of all Americans — but a long life? Not so much.
Whereas the United States once boasted of having one of the most prolonged life expectancy rates of all countries on Earth (including a number of self-governing microstates), ranking 16th overall as of 1950, recent data has shown that Americans’ good health — and good health care — is declining, rapidly, according to experts.
As of today, the US has since fallen roughly 40 spots among the 200 nations counted — below South Korea, Slovenia and Guadeloupe, to name just a few.
In a public statement regarding a new UK-based report on life expectancy, Dr. Jonathan Filippon, a lecturer in the politics of health systems at Queen Mary University of London, said that “both the UK and the US have been lagging behind” other high-income countries.
“We do need to look at the predominant ideologies running at both nation states,” Flippon continued, explaining that the “liberal approach” ushered in by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan “had disastrous consequences to their population’s levels of equality.”
The US still enjoys one of the most prosperous economies in the world, alongside Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom — a group known as the G7.
However, “while markets can continue to thrive in countries … they can also exacerbate inequalities as well,” Flippon said.
These wealthy nations are relied upon to lead the way when it comes to solving major world issues, particularly in terms of trade, security and climate change.
But we’re trailing well behind our G7 counterparts when it comes to life expectancy, by more than 20 ranks at least.
Currently, the average life expectancy in the US is about 77 years — a nearly nine-year improvement from 1950. However, experts noted, that increase has been outpaced by other G7 members, sparking concern that the country isn’t advancing as steadily as it once was. .
Since 1950, six of the seven G7 countries have added more than 12 years to their average life expectancy, including Japan which widened the gap by more than 25 years. Now, the Japanese can reasonably hope to live for almost 85 years.
Meanwhile — though not considered part of the G7 — the nation with the most impressive improvement has been now-8th ranked South Korea with a relative increase of a whopping 293% since 1950.
The data, compiled by an international team of researchers, can be read online via the scientific nonprofit Our World in Data.
Despite Americans’ waning lifespans, we’re spending more on health care than a dozen other of the wealthiest countries. That’s due, in part, to the fact that the US is also the only high-income country that does not guarantee or provide free health care, according to research by nonpartisan think tank The Commonwealth Fund.
Top 15 countries for life expectancy
- Monaco – 85.9 years
- Hong Kong – 85.5 years
- Macao – 85.4 years
- Japan – 84.8 years
- Australia – 84.5 years
- Switzerland – 84.0 years
- Malta – 83.8 years
- South Korea – 83.7 years
- Liechtenstein – 83.3 years
- Norway – 83.3 years
- Sweden – 83.0 years
- Spain – 83.0 years
- Italy – 82.9 years
- Singapore – 82.8 years
- Canada – 82.7 years
Top 10 most improved countries for life expectancy (since 1950)
- North Korea – +431%
- South Korea – +293%
- Oman – +144%
- Bhutan – +139%
- Timor – +133%
- Afghanistan – +124%
- Libya – +114%
- Maldives – +114%
- Mali – +109%
- Bahrain – +107%
- Sierra Leone – +103%
- Cook Islands – +103%
- Yemen – +101%
- Eritrea – +99%
- Egypt – +98%