How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries?

January 31, 2022 Alex

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Life expectancy estimates the average time a human being is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, its present age, and other demographic factors.

The life expectancy in the United States is around 77.9 years. Life expectancy in a nation is greatly affected by gender, race, socioeconomic status, and location.

Table of Contents

Map of Life Expectancy by U.S. State and Comparable Countries
Map of Life Expectancy of U.S. states Compared to Mexico and Canada
Why is life expectancy in the United States lower than in other wealthy countries?

In the United States, the longest life expectancy in states Hawaii (82.3), California (81.7), and New York (81.4), while life expectancy in Mississippi (74.9), American Samoa (74.8), and West Virginia (74.8) are the shortest across the nation.

At 77.9 years, the United States is tied with South Korea and Denmark for 29th – 31st place, despite being the second wealthiest nation on the planet as estimated by per capita GDP. At 68.2 years, U.S. life expectancy in the 1950s was longer than most other nations. Interestingly, back then, the United States had less economic disparity than other countries, even Sweden. But mostly beginning in the 1980s, the gap in the U.S. between the rich and the rest started to grow.

Map of Life Expectancy by U.S. State and Comparable Countries

Map of Life Expectancy by U.S. State and Comparable Nations

Map of Life Expectancy of U.S. states Compared to Mexico and Canada

The map below shows the life expectancy by states compared to life expectancy in neighboring countries. All U.S. states have lower life expectancy than Canada. At the same time, U.S. states of the Deep South have the lowest life expectancy, less than life expectancy in Mexico.

Why is life expectancy in the United States lower than in other wealthy countries?

The United States spends more on healthcare per capita than most other developed countries. Despite the high healthcare expenditure, life expectancy in the United States has been relatively lower compared to some other developed nations due to the complex interplay of various factors affecting health outcomes (diet, car-based culture, issues within the healthcare market, etc.).

Below is the chart of life expectancy vs. health expenditure created by Reddit user forensiceconomics.

Americans have a lower life expectancy than people in other wealthy nations, despite spending much more on healthcare because they suffer higher death rates from:

smoking (8.1 million residents pass prematurely from smoking every year);
obesity (70% of Americans are overweight, and 36% is obese);
homicides (The homicide rate in the United States is much higher than in other wealthy nations. Interestingly, homicide was evaluated to reduce life expectancy by 0.4 years for Los Angeles County citizens and 2.1 years for black males. The influence of homicide on life expectancy was more significant in low-income neighborhoods. In some low-income metropolitan communities, homicide was estimated to decline life expectancy in black males by nearly five years.);
opioid overdoses (It is the reason for the death of 1.6% of Americans);
suicides (The United States stands out in exceptional in suicides from firearms, which are much rarer in nations worldwide);
road accidents (Deaths in road casualties are too much more expected in the United States than in most other wealthy nations);
infant deaths (The mortality rates for newborns of well-off people in the US and European nations are comparable, there are more considerable differences between the mortality rates of the infants born to poorer people).

In addition to this, profoundly poverty and less access to healthcare denote Americans at lower incomes pass at a younger age than poor people in other wealthy nations.

As a result, the United States has a significant inequality in life expectancy. The distinction between the poorest 1% and the wealthiest 1% in the United States is 14.6 years.

To learn more about living a healthy and long life, you might want to read: