> Poverty usually isn't a way to increase life expectancy. One must presume they're doing something right. Poverty actually can be a way to increase "life expe

> Poverty usually isn't a way to increase life expectancy. One must presume they're doing something right. Poverty actually can be a way to increase "life expectancy", depending on how it's calculated. If a baby is about to be born horribly ill and/or premature, a poor country is likely to let it die quickly and be counted as stillborn; a rich country will apply heroic measures to keep it alive for long enough that it counts as a childhood death instead. (in the US it does anyway - the US records infant deaths differently than Europe and this also has a big effect on calculated life expectancy) Cuba also can't afford a lot of cars or roads to drive them on, so fewer people die in auto accidents. (If you adjust for fatal accidents, US life expectancy apparently climbs to at or near the top of the chart)