An analysis of international longevity data published in the open-access journal BMJ Open finds that Australians outlive their peers in 5 high-income English-speaking countries, including the UK and the US, by 1 to 4 years . Most of this advantage accrues between the ages of 45 and 84, with death rates from drug and alcohol misuse, screenable/treatable cancers, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases all lower, the analysis shows. While high-income countries achieved good life expectancy gains during the 20th century, the researchers note that the trends have been much less favorable in the 21st century, even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Study: Life expectancy and geographic variation in mortality: an observational comparison study of six high-income Anglophone countries . Image Credit: CandyRetriever / Shutterstock Stalled declines in deaths from cardiovascular disease, along with a rising death toll from drug overdoses, mental illness, and neurological disease, are key contributory factors, they explain. And sizeable gaps in life expectancy between the richest and poorest, evident in most of these countries, have widened further in recent decades.
While English-speaking high-income countries have much in common, they also have notable differences, including inequality in their healthcare and welfare systems, racial and ethnic composition, and immigration history. Therefore, the researchers wanted to know if there were any lifespan differences among Australia, Canada, I.