Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington talks about this worrying statistics result: “Something’s wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries.”

According to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics, life expectancy for a baby born in 2004 is 77.9 years, placing the US on the 42th place, after twenty years ago had the 11th rank.

The most optimistic figures are recorded in Andorra with a 83.5-years life span. Japan, Macau, San Marino and Singapore are following it in the rank.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the sad figures, but it is widely known that the area is hit by HIV and AIDS epidemics, famine and civil rebellion. Swaziland has the smallest figures, 34.1 years, followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

Going back to the US, researchers tried to highlight factors that have contributed to the country’s lag. It should be acknowledged that the Census Bureau tracks life expectancy rates from a lot more countries than in 1980s (222 in 2004), but this does not explain the large number of countries that surpass US.

The main factor that contributes to this situation is that 45 million Americans lack health insurance, contrary to Canada and many European countries that have universal health care.

But let’s not be oblivious of other factors that certainly have an important contribution. The high rates of obesity (one third of the adults are obese), racial disparities, high infantile mortality rates, tobacco use must be taken into account, discussions only about health insurances being an extremely  limited approach on the matter.

Media to curb sedentary life, to reduce cancer and heart and lung diseases, to diminish tobacco use, to control blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and blood sugar should be considered by policymakers.

“The U.S. has the resources that allow people to get fat and lazy. We have the luxury of choosing a bad lifestyle as opposed to having one imposed on us by hard times,” states Paul Terry, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta.