Why is life expectancy falling in the USA?
Why is average life expectancy falling so quickly in America? We crunch the numbers.
The average life expectancy of Americans is shrinking at an alarming rate.
Between 2019 and 2021, a staggering 2.7 years has been shaved off, leaving the revised figure at 76.1 years - the lowest it’s been in more than two decades.
It also sees the U.S. rank 46th in the global life expectancy charts, behind Estonia and just a nose ahead of Panama.
Paul Connolly is joined by John Burn Murdoch, Mary Pat Campbell and Dr Nick Mark to discuss why, on average, citizens of the world’s richest country are dying so young.
Presenter / Producer: Paul Connolly
Researcher: Octavia Woodward
Editor: Richard Vadon
Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot
Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
(Stethoscope with heartbeat graphic. Credit: Jonathan Kitchen/ Getty images)
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- Sat 6 May 2023 04:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
- Sun 7 May 2023 08:50GMTBBC World Service West and Central Africa
- Sun 7 May 2023 10:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
- Sun 7 May 2023 22:50GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Sun 7 May 2023 23:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
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