Unlock the Editor’s Digest for Free: Revealing Startling Disparities in Life Expectancy
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Imagine a scene where every death certificate issued in a specific country is neatly organized in ten piles. On the left, you have the fortunate souls who enjoyed long, fulfilling lives, while on the right, you find the tragic victims of untimely deaths.
The leftmost pile represents the most privileged in society, those who hit the genetic, occupational, and overall jackpot. In developed countries today, the average death certificate from this pile reveals a ripe old age in the late 90s. This reality holds true whether you’re in the US, Italy, Japan, or Sweden. If you belong to this fortunate group in America, your lifespan will match that of the luckiest individuals anywhere else in the world.
On the other hand, the rightmost pile signifies the least fortunate. Whether due to genetics, socio-economic challenges, or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, their lives were tragically cut short. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that the disadvantaged face vastly different fates depending on the country they reside in. Even the most underprivileged individuals in Japan and Switzerland usually make it to their 60s. In France, Germany, and Britain, they pass away around the age of 55. In the US, the average age is a devastatingly low 41.
Much has been said about America’s life expectancy deficit, but focusing on the overall average masks the shockingly wide disparities at play. For men at the bottom rung of the US economic ladder, the situation is even direr. According to my calculations, their average lifespan is a mere 36 years old, compared to 55 in the Netherlands and 57 in Sweden.
This wasn’t always the case. In the 1980s, the least privileged Americans had life expectancies similar to their counterparts in France. By the early 2000s, the lives of those at the bottom had significantly lengthened, and although a gap was emerging, it wasn’t a cause for concern. However, over the past decade, America’s least fortunate have tragically lost eight years of life expectancy. The discrepancy with France has transformed into an alarming chasm. What could have caused this drastic change?
It is natural to turn to economic explanations. Many assume that widening income inequalities must be the cause for America’s diverging life expectancies. The assumption is that shorter lives for the underprivileged are a result of declining material well-being. However, the evidence suggests otherwise.
Income inequality in the US soared throughout the 1980s and ’90s, even as the lives of the poorest Americans were lengthening. Moreover, inequality has remained stagnant while disadvantaged deaths have increased. Rates of material poverty in America have steeply declined over the past decade, precisely when the life expectancies of the least fortunate have plummeted. Additionally, the poorest Americans have incomes that align with their counterparts in other developed nations.
To truly comprehend what is unfolding, we must shift our focus from solely examining life length to exploring the causes of these premature deaths.
In most affluent countries, unfortunate individuals often succumb to cancer before reaching 60. In the US, however, it is drug overdoses and gunshot wounds that cut lives short, often before the age of 40. The most shocking statistic emerges when we consider the least fortunate 10 percent of American men, who, on average, pass away at a mere 36 years old.
Closer examination of different regions within the US reinforces this pattern. Conditions like obesity affect the lifespan of both the wealthy and the poor, but uniquely American issues display strong socio-economic gradients. Wealthy Americans living in areas with high opioid use and gun violence experience no differences in life expectancy compared to those in regions with lower rates of fentanyl addiction and gunshot incidents. However, poor Americans suffer drastically shortened lives when surrounded by the presence of drugs and firearms.
The reason why America’s least fortunate lead such drastically shorter lives in comparison to their counterparts in other developed nations is not purely economic. In the case of guns, the issue is deeply rooted in socio-political divisions that obstruct progress. As for opioids, predatory pharmaceutical practices specific to the US triggered the crisis, a phenomenon absent elsewhere in the world. The number of underprivileged individuals in the US has not skyrocketed, nor have they become poorer. However, their circumstances have become a death sentence in a way that is unparalleled elsewhere.
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