No blessing is unmixed. Prolonged survival “sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything” is to be neither envied nor desired. Yet the revolution in health is still a blessing. As Professor Deaton notes: “Of all the things that make life worth living, extra years of life are surely among the most precious.” Someone whose standard of living is twice as high and expects to live twice as long as someone else could even be deemed to be four times better off.
任何好事都不是纯粹的。延长“没有牙齿、没有视力,没有味觉,没有一切”的残生既不值得羡慕也不令人期望。然而健康革命仍是人类一大福祉。正如狄顿教授所说:“在所有让生活有价值的事物中,多活几年肯定属于最珍贵的那一类。”有些人生活水平高出常人一倍,并且预计要比别人多活一倍时间,人们大概可以认为,他们比常人幸福四倍。
So what has happened?
那么,人类的健康都发生了哪些变化呢?
Start with mortality rates (deaths per thousands) over time of three of today’s high-income countries: Sweden in 1751; the US in 1933; and the Netherlands and the US in 2000 (see chart). Back in 1751 the mortality rate of Swedish newborns was more than 160 per thousand people. It was more than 40 per thousand in the US in 1933. By 2000 it was below 10 per thousand. At subsequent ages mortality rates have become consistently lower over time, with the lowest rates of all for children aged about 10. Today we see a rise of mortality rates in the late teens, largely because of the riskier behaviour of young men. After a plateau in the late 20s and early 30s, death rates rise, but they do not reach 10 per thousand before age 60. US mortality rates are higher than those in the Netherlands, except for the over 80s. That is where the US concentrates its resources.
【健康革命 人类最大的福祉】相关文章:
★ 关于牙齿的小知识
★ 生命中的小瞬间
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