Life expectancy gap in America widens depending on college education
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The U.S. is failing less-educated people given the dismal life expectancy prospects they face compared to their more educated peers, researchers said.
Why it matters: While the U.S. economy outperforms other countries by metrics such as economic growth and inflation rates, two prominent economists argue the life expectancy gap says otherwise.
- "The United States is failing its less-educated people, an awful condemnation of where the country is today," Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton wrote in a opinion piece for the New York Times this month.
- Americans without college degrees are currently living about nine fewer years than people with higher education experience, their research found.
By the numbers: In 2021, the life expectancy for people without a Bachelor's degree was about 75, compared to 83 for those with degrees, according to the research.
- A decade prior, it was nearly 78 and 84, respectively.
- About 20 years ago, the gap was significantly more narrow, with a life expectancy of about 77 for people without degrees and 79 for those with.
Zoom out: Life expectancy in the U.S. overall fell for two years consecutively in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and opioid crisis.
- Before the pandemic, the U.S. ranked 40th in life expectancy compared to other countries. It dropped to 46th in 2020.
Reality check: About 24% of Americans have a bachelor's degree as their highest education.
- An additional 14% have a graduate degree, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"GDP may be doing great, but people are dying in increasing numbers, especially less-educated people," Case told the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit research organization.
- "A lot of the increasing prosperity is going to the well-educated elites. It is not going to typical working people."
- fThe researchers point to low unemployment rates, growing gross domestic product and falling inflation as measures of the U.S. economy's strength, compared to the life expectancy disparity.
Details: The economists split the timeframe from 1992 to 2021 by three, noting that mortality rose rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 1992 to 2010: Mortality fell for both groups with greater improvements for more educated people.
- 2010 to 2019: Mortality fell for people with a bachelor's and rose for those without.
- 2019 to 2021: Mortality rose for both groups, more rapidly for people without a degree.
Go deeper: U.S. life expectancy fell again in 2021 amid pandemic, opioid crisis
