alt Hacker NewsIf you exclude obese individuals US life expectancy is quite high. Health is the ultimate marginal good so exorbitant expenditure is relatively logical. You can't take the money with you so it often makes sense to spend on health even assuming extreme diminishing returns.
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Maxatar • today at 3:34 AM
Yes, if you exclude about half of the U.S. population (40% of Americans are obese) [1] then the U.S. has life expectancy that is on par with the rest of the developed world.
46493168 • today at 3:34 AM
>If you exclude obese individuals
The obesity rate in the US is 40%. The just-overweight rate is 33%. So unless we really ramp up on tackling obesity, the life expectancy is going be dragged down.
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US obesity rates are around 40% of population. Australia, Canada, UK, it is around 30% of population. Canadian life expectancy is 3-4 years higher on average. UK around 3 years higher on average. Australia around 4-5 years higher
Does the gap in obesity rates fully explain the difference in life expectancy? Or are there other factors at play?
I don't think it actually does, because UK has lower obesity rates than Australia (26-29% versus 32%), yet also lower life expectancy (Australia is 81.1 male, 85.1 female; UK is 78.8 male, 82.8 female)