The US has the lowest life expectancy of all G7 nations, according to an alarming league table.
Seventy years ago people in America could expect to live until they were 68, with the country ranking 13th globally behind the likes of Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Although the average person now lives a decade longer than in 1950, progress has stalled compared to other developed nations.
The US has since fallen to 53 on the global standings.
Britain has also fared badly, dropping from tenth to 36th in a UN list of 200 nations.
Experts suggested the sluggish progress was likely down to the health inequalities widening, resulting in poorer social groups dying earlier than the wealthy.
Academics from the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine examined global life expectancy ratings between 1952 and 2021.
They paid particular attention to G7 nations — UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US — a collection of countries with advanced economies that represent about half of global economic output.
They found that over seven decades, the US fared the worst of all G7 countries.
While life expectancy has increased since the start of the study, similar countries have seen larger increases, according to the findings published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
The average life expectancy in the UK has risen from 68.63 years in 1950 to 80.43 years in 2020, compared to 68.06 and 77.41 respectively in the US.
However, these improvements have failed to keep pace with countries such as Norway and Sweden, where people can now expect to live until 83.20 and 82.43 respectively.
Meanwhile, the likes of Japan have seen remarkable improvements, moving up from 45th to third in the world rankings.
The authors said Britain’s fall down the ranks has been decades in the making, which includes a rise in income inequalities in the UK during and after the 1980s.
Professor Martin McKee, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: ‘That rise also saw an increase in the variation in life expectancy between different social groups.
‘One reason why the overall increase in life expectancy has been so sluggish in the UK is that in recent years it has fallen for poorer groups.’
Dr Lucinda Hiam, of the University of Oxford, said: ‘The rankings show that the only G7 country to do worse than the UK is the US.’
Dr Hiam added: ‘In the short term, the government has an acute crisis to address. However, a relative worsening of population health is evidence that all is not well.
‘It has historically been an early sign of severe political and economic problems.
‘This new analysis suggests that the problems the UK faces are deep-seated and raises serious questions about the path that this country is following.’
Some health experts say that the stall is the result of austerity on the NHS and social care.
But others strongly contest the claim that squeezed budgets have directly led to a drop in life expectancy, and point out that more people live with multiple health problems.
Rising obesity rates are also thought to be behind the trend.
Bad flu seasons and fewer improvements in cardiovascular treatment have also been blamed.
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
