BigGovHealth Improve and Strengthen Health Care for all Americans

Learn the Facts

Life Expectancy

Myth: Americans don’t live as long as their counterparts in Canada and Europe

Fact: While the overall life expectancy of Americans is lower than that of people other nations, it the result of higher rates of homicides, accidents, and obesity, factors that are at best tangentially related to the health care system.

The homicide rate in the U.S. was 5.9 per 100,000 people in 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In contrast, it was 1.99 per 100,000 in Canada, 1.66 in France, .98 in Germany, and 1.63 in England and Wales (approximately 1.71 including Scotland.) 1

In the U.S., in 2006 there were 14.24 fatalities per 100,000 people from auto accidents.2 Canada had 9.25 fatalities2, France 7.43, Germany 6.194, and 5.39 in Great Britain (U.K. excluding North Ireland)5. In general, injuries of all kinds accounted for 47 deaths per 100,000 in the U.S. in 2002 but 26 in the U.K., 29 in Germany and 34 in Canada. Only France, at 48 per 100,000 was equivalent.6

While Americans are not the most likely to be overweight, they are more likely to be obese than people in other nations. While critics of the U.S. system often try to drag the issues of obesity into the realm of health care failures, it is the result of complex factors related to culture and economics as much as to health.

The U.S. has a very heterogeneous population with many ethnicities and nationalities represented. With this diversity comes not only genetic differences but also cultural and lifestyle ones that can affect health and life expectancy. African-Americans in particular have low life expectancies, well below those of other ethnic groups. Life expectancy can often be correlated to country of origin, with those from nations with high expectancies showing equivalent, or even greater, life expectancies.

While 2008 data shows that life expectancy at birth is higher in the Netherlands than in the U.S., for both men and women (76.66 vs. 75.29 and 81.6 vs. 81.13) this advantage reverses when you look at those who have reached 65.7 In 2007, the rate of traffic fatalities was 4.84 per 100,0008 and the homicide rate in Holland is 1.27 per 100,000 population, less than a quarter the rate for the U.S.9 Injuries also claim fewer lives in the Netherlands than in other countries, only 23 per 100,000 people in the 2002.10

The life expectancy at birth in Switzerland is 80.74 (77.91 for men, 83.71 for women) and those who make it to 65 can expect to live to 81.9 for men and 86 for women.11 But Switzerland has a number of advantages that influence these statistics. It is a small country with a quite homogenous population, low infant mortality due to its restrictions in counting premature babies, and relatively low rates of automobile accidents and homicides. In 2007, Switzerland had a vehicle accident fatality rate of 5.06 per 100,00012 and the homicide rate in Switzerland was 2.95 per 100,000 people in 2004.13 As for injuries, in 2002, 32 per 100,000 deaths were from this cause, versus 47 per 100,000 in the U.S.14

  1. 1 http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/CTS9_by_country_public.pdf..
  2. 2 “Fatality Analysis Reporting System Encyclopedia,” http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx.
  3. 3 Calculated using population figure from 2006 Canadian Census, http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/popdwell/Table.cfm?T=101 and 2005 auto accident data from “Transportation in Canada 2006,” http://www.tc.gc.ca/pol/en/Report/anre2006/tc2006ar-e.pdf.
  4. 4 Calculated from population data as of 1 January 2007 from ISEE, http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/chifcle_fiche.asp?ref_id=CMPFPS02136&tab_id=378 and fatality information for 2006 from “Routes-Moins de morts sur les routes en 2006,” LCI, 10 January 2007, http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/france/societe/0,,3379338,00-moins-morts-sur-routes-2006-.html.
  5. 5 Calculated using population data as of 1 January 2007 from ISEE, http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/chifcle_fiche.asp?ref_id=CMPFPS02136&tab_id=378 and statistics on car crash mortality for 2006 from the Statistische Bundesamt, http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Content/Statistiken/Verkehr/ Verkehrsunfaelle/Tabellen/Content75/UnfaelleVerunglueckte,templateId=renderPrint.psml.
  6. 6 Calculated using population numbers from the National Statistics Office for 2006, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=6, and car crash mortality data from Department of Transport, “Road Casualties Great Britain:2006-Annual Report,” table 8, available from http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/accidents/casualtiesgbar/roadcasualtiesgreatbritain2006.
  7. 7 WHO data for 2002.
  8. 8 Life expectancy at birth estimated for 2008 from: CIA World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2102.html , expectancy at 65 calculated from OECD Health Data.
  9. 9 Calculated using statistics from Statistics Netherland, “Traffic death toll further down,” press release, 24 April 2008, http://www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/themas/verkeer-vervoer/publicaties/artikelen/archief/2008/2008-030-pb.htm and “Population: age, sex, marital status on 1 January,” http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/publication/?DM=SLEN&PA=7461ENG&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=56&LA=EN&VW=T.
  10. 10 From 9th UN Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/CTS9_by_country_public.pdf.
  11. 11 WHO data for 2002, http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS08_Table1_Mort.pdf.
  12. 12 Life expectancy at birth from CIA World Factbook, life expectancy at 65 calculated from OECD Health Data for 2005.
  13. 13 Calculated with data from Bundesamtes für Statistik, traffic statistics for 2007 at http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/11/06/blank/key/01/aktuel.html, population statistics at http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/01/02/blank/key/bevoelkerungsstand.html. 2006 fatality data from “Wieder mehr Verkehrstote,” Schweizer Fernsehen, 8 July 2008, http://tagesschau.sf.tv/nachrichten/archiv/2008/07/08/schweiz/wieder_mehr_verkehrstote.
  14. 14 U.S. figure from Department of Justice, Swiss rate from 9th UN Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/CTS9_by_country_public.pdf
  15. 15 WHO data for 2002, http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS08_Table1_Mort.pdf