In 2006, U.S. life expectancy reached a record high of 78.1 years.
Good news, to be sure. But that record number still put the nation
behind almost 30 other countries. In Japan, Hong Kong, Canada,
France, Sweden, and elsewhere, people are expected to live well
past their 80th birthday.
Outcomes do matter. But the United States has nothing to be
embarrassed about.
Crude indicators like life expectancy and
infant mortality don’t just reflect the quality of a health
care system. They also reflect cultural, behavioral, and other factors,
such as a nation’s homicide rate, the number of accidents,
diet trends, ethnic diversity, pre-natal habits and much more.
It’s not pretty but it affects health care statistics. According to the
U.S. Department of Justice, America’s homicide rate was 5.9 per
100,000 inhabitants in 2004. In contrast, it was 1.95 in Canada,
1.64 in France, and 0.98 in Germany.
The United States also has more car accidents. According to
the Department of Transportation, America had 14.24 fatalities
per 100,000 people from auto accidents in 2006. In Canada,
the number was 9.25. In France, 7.4. In Germany, despite the
country’s high-speed autobahns, fatalities stood at just 6.19 per
100,000.
Indeed, Robert Ohsfeldt of Texas A&M University and John Schneider
of the University of Iowa
recently concluded that Americans
who don’t die from homicides or in car accidents outlive
people in every other Western country.