For the new study, Mayo Clinic researchers analyzed health statistics collected by the World Health Organization. This resource included data from 183 countries, allowing researchers to compare average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in each country. Average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are calculated using years of life expectancy weighted by health status.
It’s longer, but not better
Overall, researchers found that the gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy is widening around the world, with the average gap widening from 8.5 years in 2000 to 9.6 years in 2019. Average life expectancy around the world increased by 6.5 years to approximately 73 years, but healthy life expectancy increased by only 5.4 years. Until about age 63.
However, the United States was a notable outlier, with the gap widening from 10.9 years to 12.4 years, 29% greater than the global average.
This gap is most pronounced for women, a trend seen around the world. From 2000 to 2019, the average life expectancy of American women increased by 1.5 years, from 79.2 years to 80.7 years, but there was no change in healthy life expectancy. The gap between women’s life expectancy and healthy life expectancy widened from 12.2 years to 13.7 years. The average life expectancy of American men increased by 2.2 years, from 74.1 years to 76.3 years, and healthy life expectancy increased by 0.6 years. In 2019, the difference between their life expectancy and healthy life expectancy was 11.1 years, 2.6 years shorter than that of women.
Conditions that contribute most to the U.S. disease burden included musculoskeletal conditions, along with mental and substance use disorders. For women, the most common causes were diseases of the musculoskeletal system, urogenital system, and nervous system.
Although the United States provides the most extreme example, global trends appear to point to a “disease paradox in which declining acute mortality rates expose survivors to an increased burden of chronic disease,” researchers say. have pointed out.
