For the first time in 20 years,
life expectancy has actually declined in the U.S.,1,2,3,4 dropping from 76.5 years in 2014 to 76.3 in 2015 for men, and from 81.3 to 81.2 for women. This means American women now die, on average, about one month earlier than they did in 2014, and men lost about two months of lifespan.5
In all, there were 86,212 more deaths in 2015 compared to 2014, and as of 2015, the U.S. ranks 29th out of 43 countries for life expectancy,6 lagging behind countries like Chile, Costa Rica, Slovenia, Korea and the Czech Republic.
In 2014, the U.S. ranked 28th.7
Moreover, according to Dr. Peter Muennig, a professor of health policy and management at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health,
this decline in life expectancy is a "uniquely American phenomenon." No other developed countries experienced this decline.Dr. Jiaquan Xu, the report's lead author, noted the decline in life expectancy is primarily caused by a rise in several categories of preventable deaths,8 again
highlighting the failure of the American health care system to properly address the root causes of chronic disease.Meanwhile, both dietary patterns and health care availability in South Korea — which has made some of the greatest life expectancy gains — offer valuable hints at what Americans need to do to change course.
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