Saturday, January 28, 2012

Basics: America's Relative Decline in Health in One Table

I've reported before on how the U.S. has seen less life expectancy growth than other rich countries, while at the same time increasing health care spending at a more rapid rate. Another way to see America's relative decline in health outcomes is through the evolution of life expectancy compared to all rich countries over a longer period of time. The World Bank's World Development Indicators database goes back to 1960 and its most recent figures are for 2009. We can see, then, what has happened over a 49-year period.

The table below includes all members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, excluding former Communist countries (most of which were not independent in 1960) and Israel (for which World Bank data does not go back to 1960). Of the 27 OECD members included, only four (Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, and Norway) have seen less growth in life expectancy since 1960, and Sweden's growth has been the same at 8.3 years. Only two OECD members today have a lower life expectancy than the U.S., and both (Mexico and Turkey) are much poorer than the U.S. South Korea and Chile, both developing countries in 1960, have now surpassed the U.S. in life expectancy.

While health outcomes have certainly improved over the last 50 years, we can see from the table just how small those gains are relative to what other countries have been able to achieve. And remember, these gains have come at much greater economic cost.


Country Name
2009 1960 Increase
Australia
81.5 70.8 10.7
Austria
80.1 68.6 11.5
Belgium
79.7 70.1 9.7
Canada
80.7 71.1 9.5
Chile
78.8 57.0 21.7
Denmark
78.6 72.2 6.4
Finland
79.7 68.8 10.9
France
81.1 69.9 11.2
Germany
79.8 69.6 10.2
Greece
80.2 68.7 11.5
Iceland
81.5 73.4 8.0
Ireland
79.5 69.7 9.8
Italy
81.4 69.1 12.3
Japan
82.9 67.7 15.3
Korea, Rep.
80.3 53.0 27.3
Luxembourg
80.1 68.3 11.8
Mexico
76.5 57.0 19.4
Netherlands
80.5 73.4 7.2
New Zealand
80.3 71.2 9.1
Norway
80.8 73.5 7.2
Portugal
78.7 63.0 15.7
Spain
81.5 69.1 12.4
Sweden
81.4 73.0 8.3
Switzerland
82.0 71.3 10.7
Turkey
73.4 48.3 25.2
United Kingdom
80.1 71.1 8.9
United States
78.1 69.8 8.3
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2012 at 2:25 PM

    Because of diminishing returns a lack of growth doesn't say much on its own. Comparing life expectancy to median income or something would be more interesting imho.

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2012 at 12:45 AM

    This could just be a case of the exceptionalism of American disease.

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2012 at 2:08 AM

    Comparing life expectancy to dollars/person spent on health care would be informative. A country by country breakdown between preventive health care and treatment would also be interesting...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kenneth ThomasJanuary 29, 2012 at 2:31 AM

      U.S. spending per capita has risen faster even as it has gained fewer years of life expectancy. See my previous post (http://middleclasspoliticaleconomist.blogspot.com/2011/07/us-health-care-bang-for-buck-declining.html) and the Lane Kenworthy study cited there.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2012 at 9:13 AM

    Of note, place ranking of US in 1960, 13th, in 2009, 25th.

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  5. MinMay 1, 2012 at 12:19 PM

    The key to large gains in longevity is a reduction in infant and child mortality. A more meaningful comparison that includes the U. S. would be life expectancy at age 20.

    ReplyDelete