Health Problems Slow Gains in US Life Spans

22 June 2011

Senior citizens in Youngstown, Ohio.

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Americans spend more on health care than most other people. Yet a new study shows that life expectancy in the United States is falling behind other developed countries.

In two thousand seven an American man could expect to live about seventy-five and a half years. That was less than in thirty-six other countries. Life expectancy for American women was almost eighty-one years. They were also in thirty-seventh place among almost two hundred countries and territories.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington studied the numbers. Professor Ali Mokdad says increases in life expectancy have slowed in the United States compared to other countries.

ALI MOKDAD: "We've seen an improvement almost everywhere in the world. And in countries that are developed, we're seeing a higher improvement, a faster improvement rate, than we are seeing in the United States."

Professor Mokdad says the reason is Americans have made less progress in reducing problems like obesity and high blood pressure.

The report also identifies wide differences in life expectancy rates within the United States. The researchers created maps of life expectancy in each of the more than three thousand counties.