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The US currently spends more money per person than
any other country in the world, yet ranks only 24th in "disability-adjusted"
life expectancy, says the World Health Organization in a recent study.
This "disability-adjusted" number is supposed to represent the
average length of life that is spent in decent health, rather than the
total life expectancy.
The US had an expectancy of 70 years, compared to
the Japanese, who ranked #1, with an expectancy of 74.5 years. Following
Japan were Australia, France, Sweden, Spain, and Italy. Most of the lowest
ranked countries were in sub-Saharan Africa, with Sierra Leone bottoming
out the list with an expectancy of only 26 years. This was mostly attributed
to the lack of clean water, malnutrition, and the prevalence of various
diseases such as malaria and AIDS.
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