161–170 of 213 posts
> life expectancy at birth This can be affected by how one defines birth. The US, for example, goes to fairly heroic lengths to save premature babies, and counts those that fail as infant mortality, whereas other countries may classify them as miscarriages. A more portable figure would be life expectancy at one year.
I assume the WHO relies on local census & medical data to generate these statistics (the Reuters piece doesn't have a citation on ths) so I'd take this data with a grain of salt until we hear more details about the methodology.
I agree. Although, it also wouldn't be terribly surprising for China to pass the US on this metric. When you look at the obesity numbers: US 36%, New Zealand 31%, Canada 29%, Australia 29%, UK 28%, Israel 26%, Ireland 25% Thailand 10%, Indonesia 7%, China 6%, Philippines 6%, South Korea, 5%, Vietnam 2% Vietnam's life expectancy will overtake the US in the next 10-15 years as well most likely (they're about three year…
I assume the WHO relies on local census & medical data to generate these statistics (the Reuters piece doesn't have a citation on ths) so I'd take this data with a grain of salt until we hear more details about the methodology.
I agree. Although, it also wouldn't be terribly surprising for China to pass the US on this metric. When you look at the obesity numbers: US 36%, New Zealand 31%, Canada 29%, Australia 29%, UK 28%, Israel 26%, Ireland 25% Thailand 10%, Indonesia 7%, China 6%, Philippines 6%, South Korea, 5%, Vietnam 2% Vietnam's life expectancy will overtake the US in the next 10-15 years as well most likely (they're about three year…
http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2010/09/china-study-ii-...
The US lifespan is decreasing due to opioid overdoses. Similar to Russia in the 90's with alcohol.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. Although, it also wouldn't be terribly surprising for China to pass the US on this metric. When you look at the obesity numbers: US 36%, New Zealand 31%, Canada 29%, Australia 29%, UK 28%, Israel 26%, Ireland 25% Thailand 10%, Indonesia 7%, China 6%, Philippines 6%, South Korea, 5%, Vietnam 2% Vietnam's life expectancy will overtake the US in the next 10-15 years as well most likely (they're about three year…
Obesity seems to be a side effect of prosperity, so China will probably be next.
Or to Californians...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then you should really think if your impression of the apocalyptic situation is actual thing or just propaganda. Smoking though is a probability thing just as the obesity is.
I lived in Beijing for 10 years (until 2016). Even the most committed wumao wouldn’t it’s pretty bad. Western media (if you mean by propaganda) if anything makes the problem sound not as bad as it really is, but how could any westerner even begin to comprehend an AQI reading over 300 let alone 500 or 1000. Actually, the only people who say the air isn’t bad are the ones who have never been before.
The US lifespan is decreasing due to opioid overdoses. Similar to Russia in the 90's with alcohol.
I think obesity has more to do with it. A lot of people seem to want to normalize being overweight but I really don't think that leads anywhere productive, especially when it comes to affordable health coverage.
Telling fat people to burn more calories than they eat is like telling poor people to save more dollars than they spend. Yeah, it's the outcome we want, but it's not a mechanism to solve the problem.
A government program to influence calorie consumption is as distasteful as a government program to closely monitor home economics.
Congratulations to China and the Chinese people who have managed to measurably improve their livelihoods over the last few decades.
They deserve every bit of praise considering the fact that China was known as the 'land of famine' for majority of its history [0] -- having suffered their last major famine in the 1960s [1], that's just 60 years ago -- a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. The turnaround is truly impressive for a country the size of China. Makes one wonder about the power of free markets in lifting huge segments of the po…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a developing nation, China should indeed be experiencing an increased lifespan. But under normal circumstances, China's life expectancy increases should be getting closer and close to the curve of developed nations without actually touching - because all countries should be making progress. So the obvious story here is the actual decrease in US life expectancy, a situation broadly reflecting declining living condi…
>So the obvious story here is the actual decrease in US life expectancy, a situation broadly reflecting declining living conditions in the US. True, however complicated by the obesity pandemic. Some informed estimates posit that by 2030 the majority of Americans will not be merely overweight but outright obese. [0] That alone is surely sufficient to retard and revert the US life expectancy. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.n…
After that, suicides and alcohol are major contributors.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/9/20/16338996/dr...
But yeah, the opioid epidemic is so large it's noticeably shifting overall mortality stats.
Obesity related mortality actually improved from 2000 to 2015, though possibly as a result of better interventions, I'm not sure.