[Peace-discuss] bad news

[Szoke, Ron]

New data adds to the growing life expectancy gap between the US and other nations, which was flat or on a downward trend since about 2010 while that of other countries continued to increase. In fact, life expectancy in the US declined for three years straight from 2014 to 2017, “the longest sustained decline … since the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919,” according to a 2021 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Researchers say that the gap is a result of increasing premature deaths in young and middle-aged adults from drug overdoses, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases. It’s a consequence of the little attention the US has paid to education, poverty, income inequality, public transportation, affordable housing, social well-being, and access to healthcare — among other life necessities — compared with peer countries, researchers say.
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Update  By Roni Caryn Rabin
NYT Aug. 31, 2022

The average life expectancy of Americans fell precipitously in 2020 and 2021, the sharpest two-year decline in nearly 100 years and a stark reminder of the toll exacted on the nation by the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

In 2021, the average American could expect to live until the age of 76, federal health researchers reported on Wednesday. The figure represents a loss of almost three years since 2019, when Americans could expect to live, on average, nearly 79 years.

The reduction has been particularly steep among Native Americans and Alaska Natives, the National Center for Health Statistics reported. Average life expectancy in those groups was shortened by four years in 2020 alone.