This sounds plausible, though there might be many factors playing into this. Most of Eastern Europe has probably experienced a massive increase in wealth and li

This sounds plausible, though there might be many factors playing into this. Most of Eastern Europe has probably experienced a massive increase in wealth and life expectancy after the Cold War, perfectly lining up with the graph diverging starting at 1990. If you travel around Poland or the Baltics these days, the difference is remarkable. On the other hand, Russia has experienced a massive decrease in life expectancy at the same time. And stats like these here suggest that Western European states that presumably changed less after the wall came down drifted away from the US, too: http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=30&c=fr&c=gm&c=uk&c=us&l=en http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=30&c=fr&c=gm&c=uk&c=us&... Couldn't find graph-able stats that'd go back to the 90s or are totaled by Eastern Europe, sadly, but poking around here suggests that several Eastern European states experienced a significant increase in life expectancy between 1990 and 2000, three years for e.g. Slovakia.