We the People suck at staying alive, let alone healthy, compared to our peer nations around the world, according to a report from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine.

We live shorter lives and are in worse health than those in other wealthy nations. USA! USA!

L.A. Times:

The analysis of international health data, available here, determined that American men had the lowest life expectancy among men in 17 countries, including wealthy European nations, Australia, Canada and Japan. U.S. women had the second-lowest life expectancy (only Danish women fared worse.)

The study listed nine health areas in which Americans came in below average: infant mortality and low birth weight, injuries and homicides, adolescent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, HIV and AIDS, drug-related deaths, obesity and diabetes, heart disease, chronic lung disease and disability.

But chin up! Turn that frown upside down! The U.S. has low cancer death rates and did well when it came to controlling blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Let’s hear it for those incessant Big Pharma Tee Vee ads, ladies and gents!

But here’s the part that stuck out like a very sore thumb:

Gun use emerged as a factor: Americans were seven times more likely to die in a homicide and 20 times more likely to die in a shooting than their peers.

D’oh! Someone get the NRA on the phone, stat! We need to let them in on this! Oh, but I kid. Especially in light of proof that carrying a gun won’t protect you in a crisis, a factoid which falls on deaf NRA ears, because they want guns in every single school in ‘Murika!

Again, the U.S. has the highest gun ownership per capita in the world. Instead, we have far more gun-related killings than any other developed country.

Marketing and selling more guns (thank you NRA) is not the solution.

Here’s an interactive graphic where you can compare the U.S. ranking with the peer countries on specific causes of death.

_____________________________

It’s fundraising time again! It’s just the two of us, with Lucian handling the tech stuff, doing this whole shebang, 24/7/365. We love it and love interacting with ya’ll, but we must pay for the server and other expenses.

If we somehow brighten your day, educate or even irritate you at times, please consider a donation, big or small, to keep us bumping along. If everyone who dropped by on a daily basis dropped a coin in the bucket, we’d be done in no time.

If you’d like a snail mail address, email me at paddy at thepoliticalcarnival dot net. Thank you.

WePay Donate