A new study has found that Americans, regardless of how rich they are, are more likely to die earlier than people in Europe with similar wealth.
The research, led by scientists from Brown University’s School of Public Health and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, offers a detailed comparison of wealth and survival rates between the U.S. and various parts of Europe.
The researchers looked at data from over 73,000 adults aged 50 to 85, starting from 2010.
They compared people in the U.S. to those in different European regions to see how wealth influenced life expectancy.
While it’s no surprise that wealthier people tend to live longer, the study revealed a troubling trend: at every level of wealth, Americans had higher death rates than Europeans. Even the wealthiest Americans lived shorter lives than the wealthiest Europeans.
In some cases, they had similar life expectancy to the poorest people in western Europe.
Study author Irene Papanicolas, a professor at Brown, explained that this gap shows how serious issues in the U.S.—like economic inequality, stress, unhealthy diets, and environmental risks—affect people’s health across the board. She pointed out that even being wealthy in America doesn’t fully protect you from the country’s wider health challenges.
The research found that people in the top wealth bracket had a 40% lower death rate than those in the bottom bracket.
Still, across the entire population, people in Continental Europe had death rates about 40% lower than Americans.
Southern Europeans had about 30% lower rates, and even people in Eastern Europe had death rates 13% to 20% lower than Americans.
Sara Machado, another author of the study, said that both your wealth within your own country and how that compares to wealth levels in other countries can influence how long you live.
This shows that improving health outcomes isn’t just about helping the poorest—it’s something that affects everyone, including the wealthiest Americans.
The study also pointed to deeper problems in the U.S., such as weaker social safety nets and fewer public supports, which leave more people vulnerable. Lifestyle and cultural factors like smoking and living in rural areas—both more common in the U.S.—also contribute to worse health outcomes.
Researchers noted a “survivor effect” in the U.S., where many poorer people die earlier, making it seem like inequality shrinks with age. But this is only because fewer poor people survive into old age.
The study calls on U.S. policymakers to look beyond healthcare spending and consider broader changes to reduce the growing gap between wealth and life expectancy. Other countries are achieving better health with similar or even lower costs, offering lessons the U.S. can learn from.
If you care about health, please read studies about how Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease.
For more health information, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
