Exceptional indeed

 

Well, that's happened. Today, life expectancy at birth is lower in the United States than in China. Or, for that matter, in much of the world.

Economist Adam Tooze writes:

... it is not only China that has overtaken the United States based on this metric. In 2021 Cuba has a higher life expectancy than the US. So does Albania.

Why? Well, the United States did a uniquely bad job of containing COVID. And we're afflicted by an opioid epidemic. But in addition, we're a society where some people are more equal than others.

A life expectancy of 66.7 means that Black men in the United States have, at birth, the same life expectancy as men in Pakistan, a country which ranks #150 out of 193 on the global list. In 2021, a boy born in an African success story like Rwanda has a longer life expectancy than a Black boy born in the United States. Men in India, Laos and North Korea have a higher life expectancy than Black men in America.

The most disadvantaged populations of all are Native Americans. In 2021, according to the CDC, Native American men have a life expectancy that puts them on a par with low-income Sub-Saharan African countries such as Togo or Burkina Faso, some of the poorest countries in the world.

Tooze calls these statistics "shameful" -- and he's right.