America Fares Poorly On International 'Healthy Aging' Index

The U.S.'s overall ranking is 31st among 153 nations, a drop of five points since 2019.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

The United States hasn’t got much to show for spending more than any other country on healthcare.

The International Longevity Centre (ILC), an international global alliance, Tuesday released new rankings comparing 153 countries against six “healthy aging” indicators from 2019 to 2022.

The U.S. ranks:

1. 38th for life span, or the number of years an individual can expect to live. This translates to 78.2 years as of 2022, which is down from 79.14 years in 2019.

2. 61st for health span, the number of years an individual can expect to spend in good health. Americans can expect to be healthy for 65.5 years of their life span, down from 66.1 years in 2019.

3. 79th for work span, the number of years spent economically active between ages 15-65. Work span in the U.S. is 30.76 years, down from 31.31 years in 2019.

4. 36th for environmental performance, rated 51.1 on a scale of 100, down from 69.3 in 2019. This measures climate change performance, environmental health and ecosystem vitality. The ICJ blames rapidly deteriorating air quality and rising greenhouse gas emissions for the drop in environmental sustainability.

5. 32nd for happiness, or 6.52 on a scale of 10, down from 6.94 in 2019. A score of 0 to 4 is suffering; 5 to 7 is “struggling”; and 8 to 10 is thriving. Americans are struggling.

6. The last indicator is income, the measure of gross domestic product, per capita. The U.S. is seventh among the 153 countries for income, an increase of 2.09 points.

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