Life expectancy in the US was among the longest in the world. However, things have been changing. The gap between life expectancies in the US and other high-income countries has been widening. Read to find out the real reason behind this change.
New life expectancy rates
According to the latest findings by the British Medical Association, the average life expectancy rates in the US have dropped. The change seen between 2018 and 2020 is larger since the second World War. A small decline in almost two years might not seem like a huge difference. However, an expectancy of 76.87 years is 8.5 times more than other high-income counties. The pandemic did play a part in this. However, other counties suffered a drop of merely 0.22 years.
“We expected that life expectancy in the U.S. would decrease, that the drop would be smaller in other countries and that people of color in the U.S. would be disproportionately affected,” said Steven Woolf, M.D and the director emeritus of Center on Society and Health at the Virginia Commonwealth University. “However, we were stunned by the magnitude of the disparities we found. We did not anticipate that the drop in the U.S. would be 8.5 times the average decrease in peer countries. And we were horrified to see the massive decreases in that the Hispanic and Black population experienced,” added Woolf.
The worrying and massive decline
The average life of an American between 1959 and 2016 increased from 69.9 to 78.9 years. However, life expectancies started declining from 2014. The three following years saw a reduction in the lifespans of Americans due to drug abuse, obesity, organ system disorders, and suicide.
“These trends are very worrying. To give some perspective, when the decline in life expectancy was happening a few years ago, it was a decrease of about 0.1 years each year that was making front-page news. That’s the kind of increase or decrease that we’re accustomed to each year,” stated Woolf. After all, the 1.87-year decline is staggeringly high.
Who’s to blame?
According to reports, the COVID-19 pandemic and its mismanagement are some of the reasons. Over 600,000 Americans lost their lives and this number is still on the rise. However, the pandemic is not the only reason. Little or no access to health cases, food insecurity, homelessness, and unemployment are larger reasons behind this ‘massive’ decline.
We can continue to blame opioids, the pandemic, and many other factors. However, it will not be solved unless the root of the problem is solved.