8.2B - Variations in the Developed World
Variations in health and life expectancy in the developed world are largely a function of differences in lifestyles, levels of deprivation and the availability, cost and effectiveness of medical care.
The differences in life expectancy within the developed world are not as large as in the developing world, but are still significant. The average Japanese person can expect to live 13 years longer than the average Russian (about 84 and 71) . Some reasons for the variations:
- Lifestyle: inactive lifestyles, combined with high fat/sugar diets, have contributed to 31% of adults in the UAE and 36% in the USA being obese, which leads to high levels of diabetes and heart disease, which lowers life expectancy. Alcoholism is a serious problem in Russia, especially among men.
- Diet: Japanese and South Korean diets contain more fish, vegetables and rice than Western diets, which are high in meat protein, fat and sugar. Better diet may lead to lower levels of cancer, heart disease and skeletal/joint problems such as osteoporosis and arthritis.
- Deprivation: about 40% of people in Bulgaria are at risk from poverty, despite its EU membership
- Medical care: some countries, such as the UK, provide free healthcare for all (the NHS), which increases life expectancy. In the USA most people need expensive health insurance policies to cover health costs, which many cannot afford. Costs are greater when funded through private insurance and the private sector (economies of scale)
- The USA has the highest health spending per capita in the world, yet it has an infant mortality rate of 5.97 per 1000, only the 38th lowest.
- In Russia and Bulgaria, medical care is much less modern than in other developed countries and therefore less effective.