Life Expectancy on the Decline in the US

The average America will not live to see 80-years of age. The average life expectancy stands around 76.4 years, according to the CDC, with women living an average of 79.3 years and men expiring sooner at 73.5. Those figures have been steadily declining each year. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf recently spoke out about the “disturbing” trend and believes it deserves “urgent attention.”

The Society of Actuaries is also raising the alarm, noting that young Americans are dying rapidly. “Mortality was 26 percent higher among insured 35-to-44-year-olds, and 19 percent higher for 25-to-34-year-olds continuing a death spike that peaked in the third quarter of 2021 at a staggering 101 percent and 79 percent above normal, respectively,” the Hill stated in a recent article. The Society of Actuaries stated that COVID-19 is not to blame. Actuaries and insurance companies are pricing in younger life expectancy rates through 2030.

Despite spending $4.5 trillion dollars annually on healthcare, America is suffering from lower life expectancy than comparable nations. This is in large due to a crisis not getting the attention it demands: chronic disease. https://t.co/7OjIulVATP

— Dr. Robert M. Califf (@DrCaliff_FDA) February 15, 2024

“The most important remediable causes of death in the U.S. are tobacco use and poorly controlled hypertension. We’re going to lose 460K Americans this year from tobacco-related illness, and we have millions of teenagers getting addicted to nicotine through vaping right now,” Dr. Califf noted on social media. However, tobacco usage has been rapidly declining in the US, and this does not explain why Americans are dying young.

Opioids like fentanyl, Oxycontin, and heroin have become one of the leading causes of death among American youth. Opioid overdoses deaths spiked from 21,089 in 2010 to 47,600, years after the crisis first emerged. There were 68,630 reported opioid-induced deaths by 2020, and that figure skyrocketed to 80,411 by 2021.

Entire cities are plagued by the opioid epidemic, which I have covered extensively in the past. Drugs like Narcan to counteract overdoses are now sold along with the gum at the front registers of major retailers. The Biden-Harris Administration has distributed safe drug usage equipment to prevent the spread of disease and individual cities have decriminalized drug usage.

Now, the leading cause of death in America remains heart disease, followed by cancer. America has an obesity epidemic that largely contributes to heart disease and cancer, with 41.9% of the population over the recommended BMI as of 2020. The CDC estimates that the US spent $173 billion combating obesity in 2019, and medical costs for obese Americans are $1,861 higher than those at a healthy BMI. African Americans have the highest rate of obesity (49.9%), followed by Hispanics (45.6%), and Caucasians (41.4%). Asian Americans have a very low rate of obesity in comparison at only 16.1%. Aside from genetics, diet plays a major contributing factor. Additionally, Asian Americans are the least likely to fall into poverty, statistically speaking.

I could go on about the ingredients the FDA labels edible. Brominated vegetable oil (BVO), Red dye 3, Yellow 5, Blue 1, azodicarbonamide, potassium bromate, Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA), and titanium dioxide are a few examples of food ingredients that are BANNED in Europe but permitted in America. These ingredients are often known carcinogens linked to respiratory issues, genotoxicity, diabetes, and obesity. The FDA has more lenient regulatory standards because of profits.

Americans typically report much higher rates of stress than other nations. Monster Worldwide, Inc. conducted one study that found American workers experience a much higher rate of stress compared to Europeans at 65% vs 50%. The average work week is significantly shorter in Europe than in America, and vacation packages are significantly longer, with vacations often mandatory. America is also the only nation that does not offer maternity or paternity leave. Various studies have also found that cultural influences, separation from family, lack of religion, and other aspects skew higher on stress scores.

There are countless factors contributing to lower life expectancy rates. America lost 158,000 people in the first nine months of 2023, which, as noted by the Hill, is higher than the combined total of every American soldier who died in battle since Vietnam. Perhaps we need to start living instead of surviving. Those in blue areas eat healthier, real foods. They exercise and find ways to reduce stress. They are living vs surviving. The number of deaths will soon outpace the number of births, and this will greatly impact society as a whole if we only address the symptoms and not the causes.