During my career as an academic researcher, physician, and public health official, I’ve tried to bring attention to a startling paradox: despite unprecedented technological advances that have saved lives globally, and despite spending more on healthcare than any other nation on earth, life expectancy in the U.S. is trending downward. This concerning development, which runs counter to multiple previous decades of improvements in life expectancy, started even before the COVID-19 pandemic. But if we take a closer look at the data, it’s clear that one group in particular is falling behind—men. Let’s catch up on this.
The point was exemplified by my recent 55th high school reunion—yes, that’s right—55th. In a class of around 800 students, we have lost at least 80 classmates. The ratio of male to female deaths is 3 to 1 and of course, I have a biased eye, but the toll of chronic disease seemed much more severe in my male classmates.
June is Men’s Health Month, and unfortunately, the data support my observation, showing that men are experiencing poor health outcomes at an alarming rate. In the U.S., according to the National Center for Health Statistics, life expectancy for American men in 2022 was 74.8 years versus 80.2 for women—a difference of 5.4 years. Health inequity is further widened among men, as Black men, Indigenous men, and men living in rural communities have the lowest life expectancy among all groups.
