How old are you?
I know it’s a personal question, but when you ask an entire nation,
it serves as an important measure of its health and wellbeing.
I’m talking about life expectancy, the average age a person is expected to live.
But for Americans and residents of other high-income countries, it’s actually been on the decline.
The average life expectancy in the U.S. has been on the decline for three consecutive years.
A baby born in 2017 is expected to live to be 78.6 years old, that’s down from 78.7 the year before.
That means in just a year, the average American’s life expectancy has been shortened by 1.2 months.
The last three years represent the longest consecutive decline in the American lifespan at birth
since the period between 1915 and 1918, a period that included World War I and the Spanish Flu pandemic,
events which killed tens of millions worldwide.
Before the recent decline, life expectancy was steadily rising in the U.S.,
which is to be expected of an advanced nation,
particularly one that spends more money per citizen on healthcare than any other country.
But this trend isn’t unique to the States.
One recent study projected the U.K. lifespan will shorten by about five months.
And while life expectancy is still on the rise in France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands,
these countries have also seen a sharp slowdown.
Historically, life expectancy in the U.S. was on par
with other OECD countries, a basket of other developed nations.
But in the last years that’s changed, with the OECD average pulling ahead of the U.S. in life expectancy.
It’s also important to note, that even within the U.S., life expectancy can vary greatly by state.
Here in California, the life expectancy is 80.9.
That makes it the second highest state in the country after Hawaii, which has a life expectancy of 81.3.
The state with the lowest life expectancy is a striking six years behind.
That’s Mississippi at 74.7 years.
Many of its neighboring states in the south follow closely behind.
Life expectancy also differs by sex.
Men can expect to live 76.1 years at birth, while women in the U.S. are expected to live 81.1 years.
So why is life expectancy coming down here in the U.S.?
Well, while there’s no single cause, a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
or CDC, highlights three things contributing to the decline.
The first: Drug overdoses.
In 2017, more than 70,000 deaths occurred because of drug overdose.
Of these, opioids were involved with over 47,000.
The age-adjusted death rate for drug overdose in the U.S. shot up a whopping 72% within a decade.
When the CDC analyzed data from emergency room visits it found that opioid overdoses
went up a whopping 30% in the U.S. from July 2016 and September 2017.
Opioids continue to be prescribed at triple the amount that was given in 1999.
But there could be hope.
The federal government has spent more than $2.4 billion in state grants since 2017, hoping to curb the epidemic.
And data from the CDC shows the number of opioid prescriptions, while still high, is now declining.
The second factor is liver disease.
Over a 10 year period, the death rate for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
among men aged 25 to 34 increased by nearly 8% per year.
For women in the same age group, the increase averaged more than 11% per year.
The causes of liver disease can vary, from genetics to alcohol consumption and obesity.
And America’s love for fast food certainly doesn’t help.
A survey found more than one in three Americans eat fast food every single day.
The third factor identified by the CDC is a rise in suicide rates.
The national suicide rate has increased by 33% since 1999, and in 2017 alone, they went up by 3.7%.
This jump is out of sync with the rest of the world.
The global suicide rate has declined by almost 30% since 2000, with the rates in Russia,
Japan, South Korea and India falling significantly over the last decade.
Location is significant within the U.S. as well.
The country’s most rural areas have suicide rates almost twice as much as those in urban communities.
A number of statistical studies have shown that in general, individuals born in wealthier
countries can expect to live longer than those born in poorer countries.
A reduction in poverty implies better access to food, housing, education and health services,
things that should help extend your life.
However, the relationship between income and life expectancy weakens once it hits a certain level.
The U.S., the world’s biggest economy, is one of the most notable exceptions to the income-life association.
After several years of slight declines, it’s hard to know whether the U.S. life expectancy
will fall any further or flatten, but there’s one thing that’s for sure
public health experts are alarmed.
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