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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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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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9 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 May 2023 23:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 6 May 2023 04:50GMT
  • Sun 7 May 2023 08:50GMT
  • Sun 7 May 2023 10:50GMT
  • Sun 7 May 2023 22:50GMT
  • Sun 7 May 2023 23:50GMT

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