Charted: Life Expectancy vs. Health Spending Per Capita by Country

The COVID-19 pandemic erased nearly two decades of life expectancy gains in America. Meanwhile, U.S. health spending per capita is at the highest level in the world.

In the graphic below, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu visualizes life expectancy and per capita healthcare costs across several wealthy nations.

Figures were compiled by Peterson-KFF, and are as of 2022.

America Spends a Lot on Healthcare, For Little Gain

As Peterson–KFF bluntly notes, “the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy amongst large, wealthy countries” while their per capita healthcare cost has moved past $12,500 as of 2022

In fact the U.S. is an outlier for both healthcare costs (+$4,600 from next-highest Germany), and in life expectancy (-3.2 years from Germany).

Note: Health spend is measured in PPP-adjusted 2022 U.S. dollars.

From the 12 developed countries in the analysis, the average healthcare per capita cost is at $6,700 with a life expectancy of 82.2 years. Americans spend nearly double the amount while living 5 years less on average. Peterson-KFF also notes that in 1980, the U.S. had similar health spends and life expectancies as all its peers. Trends have since diverged.

Of course, both health care spending and life expectancies are influenced by a variety of socioeconomic factors. For example, the UK has the lowest costs ($5,500) amongst its European peers in the group, thanks in part to its National Health Service.

At the same time, Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world (84 years) while its per capita health costs come in at $5,300. Their low red meat intake and high fish consumption are partially credited with maintaining good health in the population.

“At the same time, Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world (84 years) while its per capita health costs come in at $5,300.”

Japan also one of the most homogenous populations of any county in the UN. No bang-bangers and similar ethnic mentalities. Yes, Japan has organized crime, but random violence is rare. That’s why they live longer - statistically.

This was part of the discussion back when Obamacare was being debated. Average life expectancy is not a very good metric for international comparisons. To take just one example, the U.S. stats are spiked by automobile accidents and homicides. U.S. healthcare outcomes jumped from near the bottom to the top of peer group countries when you control for that. The U.S. also spends much more on neo-natal and geriatric care; we do hip replacements on elderly people that the rest of the world would park in wheelchairs. We also have an adversarial legal system that drives prodigious waste due to defensive medicine to insulate against the lawyers. We also spend too much on futile high tech end of life stuff. It gets complicated.

Start by taking guns away from democrats and getting drunk drivers off the road.

No, that site is ridiculously wrong.

And most of these quotes are also wrong for the US.

Covid knocked 2.5 years off US LE, and it was a surprise to me because the calculation is life years lost when there is disease. It was killing only old folks, so the life years lost total wasn’t huge. But several places were quoting big losses, and not referencing each other so . . . there may be other definitional realities.

The US number is about 77, and that is a composite of male and female, with male about 75. It got down to 73.2 in 2021 because of the virus. Yes, it is climbing back, but it is not recovering entirely — because of Fentanyl and fat. Heads up people, that is reality. Men LE at birth is 73.2. It is declining, with most, but not all, from the virus.

LE has 2 other aspects worth being aware of — LE by age and HALE.

LE by age is the reality that if you reach 65, your odds of 80 grows because you . . . dodged a lot of bullets enroute.

HALE is Health Adjusted Life Expectancy. The US has disabilities arrive about 10 years before death. So the extra years aren’t great.

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