Life Expectancy in the U.S. Slips in Comparison to Other Countries (Population Health Metrics, June 2011)

Based on estimated county-level life expectancy data, researchers found that the U.S. ranked 37th in the world for life expectancy in 2007.

Life expectancy at birth was 75.6 years for men and 80.8 years for women.
Across U.S. counties, life expectancy ranged from 65.9 to 81.1 years for men and 73.5 to 86.0 years for women.
The lowest life expectancies for both men and women were found in Appalachia and the Deep South.
In 2007, county life expectancies for black men ranged from 59.4 to 77.2 years and for black women from 69.6 to 82.6 years.
Life expectancy in the U.S. was 3.2 years shorter than in the 10 countries with the highest life expectancies — making the U.S. 13 years behind those countries for male life expectancy and 16 years behind for female life expectancy.
In some U.S. counties, life expectancy was more than calendar 50 years behind compared to the 10 countries with the highest life expectancies. In other words, life expectancy in those U.S. counties was on par with the life expectancy experienced the top 10 countries before 1957.
From 2000 to 2007, life expectancy in most counties (85%) fell behind the progress seen in other nations, yet the U.S. continued to spend the most per capita on health care during this period.

Read the article here.