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Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

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Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#101

Post by ethbr1 »

arp242 wrote: post #91
disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's rarely an issue and can go about my life by foot. bike, and public transport. You are a very unusual person then, as the vast vast majority of people in not urban core Ireland have (and use) a car. I live in a Dublin suburb, and we're one of the few married couples that don't have two cars.

It's needed a lot less than people think unless you live out in the countryside. While it can be a bit inconvenient at times, in general it's perfectly feasible to not have a car in car-dependent Ireland. In the US on the other hand, it's needed a lot more.

> In the US on the other hand, it's needed a lot more.

A central problem in the US is transit between cities/states.

Since Europe was urbanized at scale long before the US, passenger rail networks were built out.

Most of the US grew with cars, and so that was just never developed.

Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#102

Post by thrance »

pm90 wrote: post #7

I get the feeling that Universal Healthcare (medicare for all) would probably level the difference? What else is responsible for the almost 4yr difference with e.g. France? Is it diet? Is the air/water worse in the US?

Universal Healthcare payed for by taxes gives the government an incentive to regulate and ban the worse public health hazards.

It's wild what you guys can find in your food. An example that keep baffling me is the near-impossibility of finding bread that isn't sweet in the US.

Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#103

Post by thrance »

diggan wrote: post #14
pm90 wrote: post #7

I get the feeling that Universal Healthcare (medicare for all) would probably level the difference? What else is responsible for the almost 4yr difference with e.g. France? Is it diet? Is the air/water worse in the US?

> I get the feeling that Universal Healthcare (medicare for all) would probably level the difference? Sometimes my wife convince me to try American candy/foods that we buy in these "foreign foods stores" locally, because she grew up eating some of them in her country. And every time we check the contents by reading the nutrition-labels or checking with apps like Yuka, it turns out that the stuff Americans put in the…

> what is legal to put in foods/consumables.

Which is also indirectly related to universal healthcare: since sick people cost money to the state, the government is incentivized to regulate foods more closely.

Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#104

Post by ethbr1 »

ne0flex wrote: post #15
pm90 wrote: post #7

I get the feeling that Universal Healthcare (medicare for all) would probably level the difference? What else is responsible for the almost 4yr difference with e.g. France? Is it diet? Is the air/water worse in the US?

Probably a combination of Universal Healthcare, Food Regulations (from what I understand, food quality regulations in the US are lacking compared to the EU), more balanced cultural attitudes towards work-life balance, less car-focused cities and more walkable cities.

I'd say healthy food availability in the US generally sucks.

Less so than regulation, just the market making it difficult for a lot of people to eat healthily, less-processed, and fresh with regularity.

This is talking about places that don't have a Whole Foods nearby. (Or often any grocery store!)

Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#105

Post by potato3732842 »

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #95
danaris wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is absolutely not propaganda. I live in a rural village about 5 hours' drive from NYC. There is no public transport here. If I drive 45 minutes to the nearest city, I can catch a train—but that train will only take me to a few destinations (primarily Albany, NYC, or Boston one way, or Buffalo, Chicago and points west the other way). Some cities (outside of major metropolitan areas, which do generally have some kin…

I live in a small (9000) very rural town with low wage jobs (so not a huge tax base) in a reddest of red state and we have our own very nice/clean bus system (it uses bus vans not huge busses). It not impossible in the US, it just depends on if the people of your town care to have it.

Same situation where I grew up, blue state though.

NY politics is the problem, not anything else. That whole damn state is just so bleak, nothing gets done without so many pounds of flesh being taken out by so many parties that things just stop getting done.

Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#106

Post by lrvick »

ethbr1 wrote: post #94
spacemadness wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you a time traveler? Tobacco addiction hasn’t been rampant since the 90s and it was dying out then. It is certainly not a staple of American culture. Agreed that it’s not genetics. That’s just silly.

How old are people who were smoking in the 90s, today?

Exactly.

I have had multiple people I was close to die due to smoking created health issues in the last decade. Even if smoking is not as prevalent today, we are paying the price for it now.

Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#107

Post by danaris »

potato3732842 wrote: post #105
_DeadFred_ wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a small (9000) very rural town with low wage jobs (so not a huge tax base) in a reddest of red state and we have our own very nice/clean bus system (it uses bus vans not huge busses). It not impossible in the US, it just depends on if the people of your town care to have it.

Same situation where I grew up, blue state though. NY politics is the problem, not anything else. That whole damn state is just so bleak, nothing gets done without so many pounds of flesh being taken out by so many parties that things just stop getting done.

And yet, somehow, it's still massively better than when Pataki was governor...

At least we are now capable of passing a budget bill less than 5 months late, anyway.

Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#108

Post by Ancapistani »

spacemadness wrote: post #90
lrvick wrote: post #24

Fast food addiction, free-refill-fueled soda addiction, tobacco addiction, weakly trained near universal use of automobiles for daily travel, and unequal access to healthcare are staples of American culture so I am only surprised the spread is not worse. This has very little to do with location or genetics and everything to do with education and culture.

Are you a time traveler? Tobacco addiction hasn’t been rampant since the 90s and it was dying out then. It is certainly not a staple of American culture. Agreed that it’s not genetics. That’s just silly.

Eh - "tobacco" addiction is likely on the way out, but "nicotine" addiction likely isn't.

Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#109

Post by Ancapistani »

magicalhippo wrote: post #81
marcandre wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europeans smoke more than Americans

Depends on country I think. At least here in Norway, after the ban on smoking indoors at public places like restaurants and bars 20 years ago, smoking went way down. When I visited New York a few years ago I was shocked about how much smoking there was everywhere. Of course, people didn't quit nicotine entirely, many moving to snus[1] instead. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus

Interestingly, I haven't been able to find a single study that shows long-term use of snus leads to health complications -- at least, not where snus was split out from smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption.

Re: Life Expectancy in Europe Compared to the US

#110

Post by Ancapistani »

throwaway290 wrote: post #83
danaris wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is absolutely not propaganda. I live in a rural village about 5 hours' drive from NYC. There is no public transport here. If I drive 45 minutes to the nearest city, I can catch a train—but that train will only take me to a few destinations (primarily Albany, NYC, or Boston one way, or Buffalo, Chicago and points west the other way). Some cities (outside of major metropolitan areas, which do generally have some kin…

Yeah. I just picked random two small villages in Italy 200 km apart and Google maps says 4-5 hr by public transport, yes a few interchanges but you barely need to walk less than 10 minutes total. I remember being impressed with european public transport (after what we have in russia) and this rings true. Then I picked two random Missouri townships 83 miles away and it's 40 min by car and no route at all by any public…

> even if I chose so that both of them are on the same big 4 lane road!

If you've ever been on a Greyhound bus, you'd understand why that's the case.

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