4 ms·

Comparing the US average life expectancy to the average of other rich countries is tricky because the US population is so much bigger and more diverse than most

Comparing the US average life expectancy to the average of other rich countries is tricky because the US population is so much bigger and more diverse than most other countries. If US data were broken down by state, we'd probably see life expectancy in some states more like rich northwestern European countries, and some states more like poor southeastern European countries. For all that, US healthcare is still uniquely optimized to maximize cost.

spaniard89277 4y ago
I'd say it's mostly a question of lifestyle. You can have all paliative halthcare you want, what matters is regular exercise, good diet and I guess other factors like pollution.
peoplefromibiza 4y ago
> Comparing the US average life expectancy to the average of other rich countries is tricky because the US population is so much bigger and more diverse I read this argument a lot, in various formulations. The truth is that the the US State with the higher life expectancy is Hawaii [1] at 82.3 years, comparable to New Zealand, that ranks 19th (or 16th depending on the year taken in consideration 2021 [2] or 2022 [3]) in the list of countries by life expectancy. The 4th State in the list, Minnesota, is already out of the first 30. That's why on average US score pretty badly, even worse than some undeveloped countries. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe... [3] https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/ https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/
- EricE 4y ago
  Funny how Hawaii, due to it's geographic isolation, probably doesn't suffer from illegal immigration to the extent as other states.
lolpython 4y ago
> If US data were broken down by state, we'd probably see life expectancy in some states more like rich northwestern European countries, and some states more like poor southeastern European countries. This is true. - New York State life expectancy is 81.4 and the Netherlands life expectancy is 81.41 - Hawaii life expectancy is 82.3 and Spain life expectancy is 82.33 - Mississippi life expectancy is 74.9 and Lithuania life expectancy is 74.93 Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_...
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  and that's it. Florida is comparable to Chile, Rhode Island to Czech Republic, Texas to Poland, Michigan to Slovakia and finally West Virginia to Jamaica. BTW the Netherlands ranks pretty low in Europe.
godelski 4y ago
> If US data were broken down by state, we'd probably see life expectancy in some states more like rich northwestern European countries, Here[0]. Hawaii is the highest which is between Finland and Belgium (24/25 respectively)[1]. California is second and comparable to the UK (29). There definitely is a divide in the rich and poor, but it does appear that there are plenty of poor European countries (as well as some non-European) that are fairing much better. So I don't think we can conclude that this alone accounts for the disparity. There's clearly other important causal factors at play. I'm sure we can guess what a few of them are. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... [1] https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/ https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/

spaniard89277 4y ago

I'd say it's mostly a question of lifestyle. You can have all paliative halthcare you want, what matters is regular exercise, good diet and I guess other factors like pollution.

peoplefromibiza 4y ago

> Comparing the US average life expectancy to the average of other rich countries is tricky because the US population is so much bigger and more diverse I read this argument a lot, in various formulations. The truth is that the the US State with the higher life expectancy is Hawaii [1] at 82.3 years, comparable to New Zealand, that ranks 19th (or 16th depending on the year taken in consideration 2021 [2] or 2022 [3]) in the list of countries by life expectancy. The 4th State in the list, Minnesota, is already out of the first 30. That's why on average US score pretty badly, even worse than some undeveloped countries. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe... [3] https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/ https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/

EricE 4y ago
Funny how Hawaii, due to it's geographic isolation, probably doesn't suffer from illegal immigration to the extent as other states.

lolpython 4y ago

> If US data were broken down by state, we'd probably see life expectancy in some states more like rich northwestern European countries, and some states more like poor southeastern European countries. This is true. - New York State life expectancy is 81.4 and the Netherlands life expectancy is 81.41 - Hawaii life expectancy is 82.3 and Spain life expectancy is 82.33 - Mississippi life expectancy is 74.9 and Lithuania life expectancy is 74.93 Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_...

peoplefromibiza 4y ago
and that's it. Florida is comparable to Chile, Rhode Island to Czech Republic, Texas to Poland, Michigan to Slovakia and finally West Virginia to Jamaica. BTW the Netherlands ranks pretty low in Europe.

godelski 4y ago

> If US data were broken down by state, we'd probably see life expectancy in some states more like rich northwestern European countries, Here[0]. Hawaii is the highest which is between Finland and Belgium (24/25 respectively)[1]. California is second and comparable to the UK (29). There definitely is a divide in the rich and poor, but it does appear that there are plenty of poor European countries (as well as some non-European) that are fairing much better. So I don't think we can conclude that this alone accounts for the disparity. There's clearly other important causal factors at play. I'm sure we can guess what a few of them are. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... [1] https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/ https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/