When it comes to life expectancy in high-income English-speaking countries, a new study has found that America has sat in last place since 2001. Despite its plethora of deadly animals, Australia remains the best performer and, the researchers say, should serve as a model for how the US can do better. in wealthier countries, driven by factors like their behavior, socioeconomic trends and the availability of health services, is a good indicator of the health profile of a population.
For example, in 1900, the was 32 years; in 2021, it was 71. That improvement is attributable to advances in medicine, public health, and living standards. In a new study, researchers from the University of Southern California and Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) examined life expectancy across six high-income English-speaking countries – the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – to see how each one ranks.
“One lesson we Americans can learn about life expectancy from looking at comparable countries is where the frontier of best performance lies,” said Jessica Ho, associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State and the study’s senior author. “Yes, we’re doing badly, but this study shows what we can aim for. We know these gains in life expectancy are actually achievable because other large countries have already done it.
" The researchers obtained data on the six countries between 1990 and 2018, taken from the and the . For context, they also looked .