Will You Live Longer in Your Country?
If you live in Switzerland, the answer is yes. According to a story at smartplanet.com, "Residents of Switzerland born in 2011 are expected to live 82.8 years -- as they are generally healthier, and do not have such high rates of obesity-related illnesses, cardiovascular disease, and cerebrovascular disease such as strokes and aneurysms."
Here in the U.S., while our average life span has risen from 70.9 years in 1970 to 78.7 years in 2011, not so much. We only come in 26th on a global list.
It used to be thought that spending on healthcare and average household income made for longer lives. But, as smartplanet.com reports, according to the Organizations for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) report Health at a Glance 2013, this is turning out to no longer be true.
Why does Switzerland -- and Italy and Japan and Iceland (Iceland?) -- rate so high? Probably because their inhabitants are thinner. In Italy, life expectancy is 82.7 years (must be all that pasta and wine!). In Japan, while only 30 percent of residents rate their health as good, most also live to 82.7. In Iceland it's 82.4. Makes our 78.7 look kind of, well, paltry.
Tying with Iceland is Spain, and then along comes France, at 82.2, smartplanet.com notes. Australia, Sweden, Israel, and Norway, in that order, finish out the top 10.
And yes, obesity is one of the reasons we rank so low. Overweight or obesity -- which affects one in three adults, and up to a third of all boys and girls in the U.S., is now" seen as a worldwide risk to health, as six of the countries with the longest life expectancy also report the lowest rates of obesity," smartplanet.com quotes 24/7 Wall Street.
Here in the U.S., while our average life span has risen from 70.9 years in 1970 to 78.7 years in 2011, not so much. We only come in 26th on a global list.
It used to be thought that spending on healthcare and average household income made for longer lives. But, as smartplanet.com reports, according to the Organizations for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) report Health at a Glance 2013, this is turning out to no longer be true.
Why does Switzerland -- and Italy and Japan and Iceland (Iceland?) -- rate so high? Probably because their inhabitants are thinner. In Italy, life expectancy is 82.7 years (must be all that pasta and wine!). In Japan, while only 30 percent of residents rate their health as good, most also live to 82.7. In Iceland it's 82.4. Makes our 78.7 look kind of, well, paltry.
Tying with Iceland is Spain, and then along comes France, at 82.2, smartplanet.com notes. Australia, Sweden, Israel, and Norway, in that order, finish out the top 10.
And yes, obesity is one of the reasons we rank so low. Overweight or obesity -- which affects one in three adults, and up to a third of all boys and girls in the U.S., is now" seen as a worldwide risk to health, as six of the countries with the longest life expectancy also report the lowest rates of obesity," smartplanet.com quotes 24/7 Wall Street.
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