With more and more of us primed to take greater responsibility for our health, feeling the wind in our sails from Health Secretary Bobby Kennedy’s mission to Make America Healthy Again, it’s a good time to see how our baseline statistics stack up against other countries. Sadly, they paint a grim picture of US health and demonstrate why we must break away from the pharmaceutical-driven model that has played a big part in creating this mess, while doing little to get us out of it.
Dipping Our Fingers into the Numbers
Compare the Market, an Australian life insurance company, analyzed official figures from 50 countries around the world back in 2023. The USA came dead last with the worst chronic disease score. Let us repeat: not 30th or 40th—but last!
This is a summary of what Compare the Markets found:
“The USA had the worst indexed chronic illness score out of all 50 countries we examined at 7.42/10. America fared poorly in many different areas. Specifically, the USA had the highest prevalence of asthma, with 11.25% of the country’s population having this condition. In addition, America had the highest prevalence of overweight adults, with 68% of those aged 18 and above being classified as overweight.
Other areas where America did poorly included cancer, prevalence of diabetes and chronic respiratory disease death rate. America had the fourth-highest incidence rate of cancer (362.2 cases per 100,000), the fifth-highest prevalence of diabetes among those aged 20-79 (10.7% of this age group) and the sixth-largest death rate from chronic respiratory disease (39 deaths per 100,000).”
That figure of 7.42 out of 10 for the USA, compares against just 2.77 out of 10 for Peru, with the lowest chronic disease score, and South Korea and Japan who tied at 3.14, and Iceland at 3.42.
This is shown graphically in the figure below:
How Much Bang Do We Get for Our Hard-Earned Bucks?
Our World in Data pulls together data from the Global Burden of Disease study, outputs form which are routinely published in The Lancet journal, with data taken from the official statistics collated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), both of which are Gates Foundation funded.
The figure below reminds us that despite Americans throwing more money at healthcare per capita than any other nation, we don’t get a lot of bang for our buck. In fact, it’s embarrassing—or should be, at least. We get roughly the same bang as upper-middle income countries that spend less than one-tenth of what we spend on healthcare. And we’re bottom of the pile of any of the high-income countries, yet we pay more than anyone else. Go figure.
If that wasn’t enough, the IHME has estimated that the USA actually sits a lowly 80th in the global rankings for healthy life expectancy, and has been estimated by the IHME to plummet to 108th by 2050—unless we decide to do otherwise!
Breaking It Down Further
As you’ll see in the charts below (taken from the Compare the Market evaluation using official figures), the US stacks up poorly against comparable countries when it comes to mortality rates from chronic disease.
According to these data, the US ranks dead last when it comes to chronic disease rates and mortality from those diseases:
The US leads comparable countries in obesity rates:
The US leads comparable countries in diabetes rates:
The US is second only to China in mortality rates from cardiovascular disease:
The following chart measures premature death by adding together the total number of years that people who died before a specified age (e.g. 70) would have lived if they had lived to that age. For example, a person who dies at age 45 would have a “potential years of life lost” of 25. Once again, the US leads most other OECD countries in premature deaths.
These charts show that Americans are more likely to have multiple chronic conditions and have a life expectancy that is three years shorter than other OECD countries.
As these charts show, we are at a precipice. Do we continue with the failed drug-centric model of health, or do we embrace a proactive approach that prioritizes nutrition, supplementation, and prevention? The answer is clear.
Let’s Control Our Own Destiny—And Defy the Statistical Predictions
Leaders like RFK Jr. recognize that addressing the chronic disease epidemic requires a fundamental shift. We need a system where preventative care is prioritized and free speech and scientific transparency allow people to make informed health choices. But more than anything, we need to ensure the responsibility for our own health is in our own hands. But we also need medical freedom, autonomy in healthcare, and respect for the physician/practitioner-patient relationship. We also need to ensure scientific information about healthy products isn’t censored, and that free speech prevails, whether in relation to private or commercial speech. Fortunately, these are all pressing issues that our central to our mission—and we are determined to do what we can to ensure that—together—we can move the needle on our abysmal current health status.
At ANH-USA, we have long advocated for this transformation. We support the MAHA agenda in challenging the status quo and fighting for a healthcare system that serves the people, not corporate interests.
Please share this widely in your networks and donate now to help us with our incredibly ambitious agenda for ‘25/’26.
