Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

[This coverage says nothing about the variance in US life expectancy by
race and class, of course... which is horrendously large. It's
really hard to understand why The Guardian (2nd item) calls the
results "startling." It's been obvious for years, if only
anyone had bothered to look. The United Nations has, to some extent. The
Cubans have. Their figures for the US -- averaged and broken down by
race/class, for mobidity, mortality, infant and maternal mortality --
compared with their own figures, have made it all perfectly clear. And
shall we talk about literacy? Preventable diseases? Or (shudder)
disaster preparedness? -NY Transfer]

Spirit India - Aug 15, 2007
http://www.spiritindia.com/health-care-news-articles-12290.html

US slips to 42nd position in life expectancy

The United States has fallen behind many industrialised nations in life
expectancy rankings, although Americans are living longer than ever, a
media report said.

Fortyone countries have gone past the US, which include not only Japan
and many in Europe but also Jordan, Guam and the Cayman islands, the
report said.

"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world,
the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up
with other countries," Dr Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for
Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington has been
cited in the report.

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9
years. The life expectancy now ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades
earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census
Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Centre for Health
Statistics.

Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains between France and
Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years, followed by
Japan, Macau, San Marino and Singapore.

The shortest life expectencies were clustered in Sub-Saharan Africa, a
region that has been hit hard by an epidemic of HIV and AIDS, as well
as famine and civil strife. Swaziland has the shortest, at 34.1 years,
followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

***

The Guardian - Aug 13, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2147617,00.html

US tumbles down the world ratings list for life expectancy

Ewen MacAskill in Washington and agencies

A combination of expensive health insurance and an ever-increasing rate
of obesity appear to be behind a startling fall by the US in the world
rankings of life expectancy.

Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, America has
dropped from 11th to 42nd place in 20 years, according to official US
figures.

Dr Christopher Murray, head of the Institute of Health Metrics and
Evaluation at the University of Washington, said: "Something's wrong
here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that
spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other
countries."

The lack of health care available to many Americans - 45 million have
no health insurance - is set to be one of the biggest issues in next
year's presidential election campaign. The Democratic contenders all
promise universal health care.

The decline reflects the disparity in wealth.The life expectancy of
African Americans is 73.3 compared with 77.9 for whites. For
African-American males, it is even shorter: 69.8.

Jim McDermott, a Democratic Congressman, said: "Health care coverage is
the single biggest domestic crisis facing America. It threatens all but
the wealthiest Americans. "If you aren't part of the richest 1%, then
you know you are living one phone call, accident or illness away from
financial ruin because of a medical crisis."

Obesity is frequently cited as among the causes of lower life
expectancy. Almost a third of US adults are obese, according to the
National Centre for Health Statistics, which compared US life
expectancy with the rest of the world.

Paul Terry, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory University
in Atlanta, said: "The US has the resources that allow people to get
fat and lazy."

The drop is also due to improved health care, nutrition and lifestyle
elsewhere in the world. Countries with longer life expectancy include
most of Europe, Japan, Singapore and Jordan.

The US also has a higher infant mortality rate than many other
countries: 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births. The worst life
expectancy figures are in Africa, with Swaziland at the bottom, at 34.1
years.

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