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By Micah McCartney
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The United Nations has predicted the average Chinese person might soon expect a longer life span than an American.
The U.N. Population Division's updated projections, released last month, put the median life expectancy in the United States at 79.46 years this year, compared with China's 78.02. But if current trends hold, China will inch past the U.S.'s 82.39-year life span in 2044 and reach 82.4.
Life expectancy in the U.S. has been ticking upward after a dip from 2020 to 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remains the lowest in the developed world, despite the fact America spends more on health care than any other country.
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One factor weighing on U.S. life expectancy is the ongoing opioid epidemic. While fatal overdoses from opioids such as fentanyl decreased by over 3 percent from 2022 to 2023, 81,083 deaths occurred, about twice as many as in 2018.
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Mortality from drug overdose is much more prevalent in the U.S. than elsewhere in the developed world, Robert Anderson, a statistician with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, pointed out.
"Other factors include higher rates of cardiovascular disease mortality, homicide, suicide, and infant mortality," he said. He pointed out that cardiovascular disease has remained constant in the U.S., even as declines were seen in most other developed countries.
The U.S. has long had the highest infant mortality rate among wealthy nations, with over five children dying in their first year per 1,000, according to CDC data, compared with Canada's just under four deaths per 1,000 and the 4.5 per 1,000 China reported in 2023.
Experts have also said problems with the American healthcare system weigh on life expectancy.
"We have a wonderful sick care system that takes care of very sick people, but a very inadequate health care system," Asaf Bitton, executive director of Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health's Ariadne Labs, said in an interview with The Washington Post last year.
He pointed to disparities in healthcare access in some areas and among certain racial and ethnic minorities.
The CDC and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. did not immediately respond to Newsweek's emailed requests for comment.
Life expectancy in China has risen significantly in recent decades thanks to improved nutrition, access to clean water and sanitation, and expanded healthcare coverage that has accompanied the country's rapid economic growth.
The median Chinese life span has lengthened by nearly five years since 2000, when it was 72.3 years, according to the U.N.'s data.
The flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl has fueled U.S.-China tensions in recent years. China has been identified as a major source of the chemicals needed to manufacture the drug.
Last month, Reuters detailed how easily one of its reporters was able to order one of these precursor materials from China to Mexico in sufficient quantities to produce three-quarters of a million fentanyl tablets.
The U.S. has accused Chinese authorities of not doing enough to regulate the sector and stem the flow of these chemicals. China has denied responsibility and pointed to U.S. demand as the main cause.
On Tuesday, China announced three key fentanyl precursors will be subject to increased regulation.
National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement it was Beijing's third major scheduling action since President Joe Biden met with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping last November, which led to the two countries resuming cooperation on counternarcotics.
Update 8/7/24 at 6:51 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a comment from Robert Anderson and extra context.
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