Life expectancy in the US falls to its lowest level in almost 30 years: new OECD report

American life expectancy has fallen to the lowest levels in nearly three decades, according to a leading global report.

At a current average of 76.4 years, the United States has been eclipsed by almost all other developed nations, according to recent data. of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The last time the country reported lower numbers was in 1996, according to the World Bank.

Ranked among all countries analyzed for the report, the United States ranked 34th this year.

In 2003 it ranked tenth.

The precipitous fall places the country among the top six with the greatest falls.

Globally, the average life expectancy rate was 80.3 years, with Switzerland being the highest (83.9 years) and Latvia the lowest (73.1 years).

The OECD found that average life expectancy worldwide fell by 0.7 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate began to slowly rise again last year.

However, the increase in life expectancy around the world began to decline even before the pandemic, especially for women, according to the report.

The organization cited heart disease (the leading cause of death among Americans), stroke, obesity and diabetes (cases expected to double by 2050) as the leading diseases affecting the health of people around the world.

Air pollution, smoking, and alcohol consumption (the latter now at levels reminiscent of the Civil War era) were found to be the main risk factors hindering increases in life expectancy.

The data also showed that while the United States ranks better than other countries in the percentage of daily smokers, it reported higher-than-average rates of per capita alcohol consumption and deaths due to pollution compared to other developed nations.

Meanwhile, the country’s obesity rate is worse than average, as the United States battles the obesity epidemic.

“We may be one of the richest countries in the world and we certainly spend more than all countries on health care, but Americans are sicker and dying earlier than people in dozens of countries,” said Dr. Steven Woolf. said in a press releasereporting data similar to the OECD report.

“Even Americans with healthy behaviors, for example those who are not obese or do not smoke, appear to have higher rates of illness than their peers in other countries,” according to Woolf’s research. published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The new analysis “shows that premature deaths among Americans are a much larger and older public health problem than previously believed,” Woolf added.

However, the study found important differences between states. Life expectancy was generally highest in the Northeast and West, and lowest in the south central and Midwestern states.