One area where the U.S. is not number 1

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The Winter Olympics are fast approaching. I know there are calls in certain circles for the U.S. to boycott them. While there is precedent for this, deep down you know the U.S. doesn’t want to be excluded from a competition that features more than 2,800 athletes from 90 nations. The schedule includes 109 events in 15 different sports and many of the athletes competing are from countries that never see snow.
Every time the Olympics roll around, it seems like there’s a push to show the country’s dominance over other nations by including a running tally of the medal count.
It really is never a contest, as the U.S. has 2,629 combined medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics since 1924 (and 1,060 first place finishes), which is far and away tops on the list. The Soviet Union is second (1,010 medals), followed by Great Britain (918) and China (634).
For the Winter Olympics, the U.S. is second (305 medals) only to Norway (368 top three finishes). For as much time and effort that is devoted to training year after year, should the U.S. settle for second in anything? Good luck to all the athletes participating next month. Hopefully, it’s entertaining and provides an opportunity to learn a little more about ski jumping and pairs figure skating.
This is where the column takes a more serious turn. Where does the U.S. rank in terms of life expectancy? The U.S. is not no. 1. It’s not in the top 10, top 25 or even the top 40.
The United States of America is 46th, with an average life expectancy of 78.99 (81.526 for women, 76.486 for men) according to the World Health Organization in data released in December 2021. Yes, the U.S. is one of 10 nations coming in with a life expectancy between 78.0 and 79.0, which is behind multiple Caribbean nations as well as U.S. territories of the U.S. Virgin Island (80.826, 34th, Puerto Rico (80.354, 37th) and Guam (80.352, 38th).

Along with this, the U.S. life expectancy also is in decline. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics reported in July 2021 in its “Provisional Life Expectancy Estimates for 2020” there was a drop of 1.3 years to 77.3 years. A university degree in calculus is probably required to determine how the NCHS gathered their statistics. Nevertheless, people in the U.S. are not living as long as in other countries and the rate is decreasing.
While deaths attributed to COVID-19 in 2020-21 played a role it was estimated that 11 percent of the drop was due to increases in deaths from accidents/unintentional injuries. Drug over-dose deaths comprised more than a third of the unintentional injury deaths and the NCHS re-ported an all-time high of 93,000 overdose deaths in 2020. There have been great advances in the fields of medicine and technology through the years, but has that research paid off? I would argue it comes down to convenience. Americans have choices and way too often the ones being made are not the best ones. Go for a walk? No, not today. Should I eat more fresh vegetables and fruit? Of course. Who makes time to cut up a head of broccoli or an apple? A trip through the drive-thru or a delivery from a restaurant is easier.
The WHO report says major factors to life expectancy include gender, genetics, diet and exercise, access to healthcare, lifestyle and culture as well as crime rates. The two biggest factors are genetics and lifestyle choices.
Healthier lifestyles would do a lot toward lowering the U.S. number, but it will take a lot of work to get into the top 10. Hong Kong has the best life expectancy according to the most recent WHO report (85.026), followed by Japan (84.79), Macau (84.424), Switzerland (83.974) and Singapore (83.798). Canada comes in at 16th overall (82.664), so it will take real progress to reach that level. One thing the U.S. has going for it, it does have a higher life expectancy than Mexico (89th, 75.238) but the nation to the south showed a year-over-year increase.
-Thanks for reading!
Daniel Winningham is the managing editor of the Republic-Monitor. He can be reached at 573-547-4567, ext. 227 or email editor@perryvillenews.com.