There is no universal healthcare in the US. To debate any other reason for mortality is flagrant disregard for the truth.
There’s that, but there’s also drug overdoses, traffic fatalities, health issues, suicide, violent crime…
The US is a dangerous place in many ways, it would seem.
I agree but drug overdoses, health issues, suicide could all be mitigated by universal healthcare
Even violent crime when you got a choose between stealing for insulin or just dieing
Yeah but we’ve had all that for all the previous generations… Those are precedented
And a lot of those things you listed are simply because life kind of sucks here
From an outsider’s POV (I’m Canadian) I see 2 main causes: private for-profit healthcare and almost unlimited access to guns.
Fixing those two would go a long way towards changing the death rate.
Well, there’s that, and also
- Having to work really long hours to try to make ends meet
- Being underpaid
- No or minimal time off work (vacation and sick time both, and sometimes even medical leave doesn’t protect you all that much)
- Poor worker’s rights in general
- Crushing cost of housing
- Crushing cost of education
- Food and everything else you need to live is getting more expensive all the time, and the quality often goes down
- Poor quality of medical care (on top of the exorbitant cost)
- Not being able to spend much time with friends and family because they’re all drowning in work or otherwise struggling
- Thinking about the number of friends and family who have killed themselves, come close, or are likely to try
Also walkable cities.
Agreed about the Healthcare, but the guns are just a symptom
That’s not a reasonable position. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, its interpretation, and the monied interests lobbying with millions of dollars to make billions selling firearms are endemic to the socio-political quagmire that is American politics.
Thus, a symptom of another problem. That’s what I said.
🤦
Yea, they say that first. And then more. Read it?
Millennials are killing the living industry.
I like how seemingly no one here is reading the article because of the paywall, which no millennials (including me) are going to pay to get past, which is emblematic of why no one is going to pay attention to the findings of these (at a quick look) millennial-age-bracket-looking researchers instead of raging into Facebook algos or whatever most folks do. There are so many layers of irony.
The information pipe to steer us outa this is so busted. It’s unreal.
And yes, I know I can find the archive link…
Here is the paper linked in the article. Feel free to share it on Facebook
https://www.doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.1118
Introduction
Mortality rates decreased more slowly in the US than in other high-income countries (HICs) between 1980 and 2019,1 resulting in growing numbers of excess US deaths compared with other HICs.1-4 We assessed trends in excess US deaths before (1980-2019), during (2020-2022), and after (2023) the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods
This cross-sectional study was deemed exempt from review and informed consent by the Boston University Institutional Review Board because no human participants were included. We followed the STROBE reporting guideline.
We obtained all-cause mortality data for the US and 21 other HICs from the Human Mortality Database from January 1980 to December 2023.5 For each year, we computed age-specific mortality rates for the US and the population-weighted average of other HICs. We then calculated the number of US deaths that would have been expected each year had the US population experienced the age-specific mortality rates of other HICs. We computed ratios of observed-to-expected US deaths. We then computed numbers of excess deaths attributable to the US mortality disadvantage by taking the difference between observed and expected US deaths. We stratified by age. Finally, we fit a linear regression model to assess whether the number of excess US deaths in 2023 differed from the 2014-2019 prepandemic trend (eMethods in Supplement 1). Analyses were conducted with Stata/MP, version 18.0 (StataCorp LLC), and R, version 4.42 (R Project for Statistical Computing). Results
Our analysis encompassed 107 586 398 deaths in the US and 230 208 265 deaths in other HICs from 1980 to 2023. We estimate that 14 735 913 excess deaths occurred in the US in this period compared with other HICs. US mortality rose rapidly in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic, then declined in 2022 and 2023. The pandemic-era mortality surge was less pronounced in other HICs (Figure, A). Figure. Mortality Rates, Mortality Rate Ratios, and Excess US Deaths Attributable to the US Mortality Disadvantage Relative to Other High-Income Countries (HICs) Mortality Rates, Mortality Rate Ratios, and Excess US Deaths Attributable to the US Mortality Disadvantage Relative to Other High-Income Countries (HICs) (opens in new tab)
A, Trends in US mortality rates, mortality rates of other HICs, and average mortality rates in other HICs standardized to the US age distribution in each year (1980-2023). B, Age-specific mortality rate ratios comparing US mortality rates to the average of other HICs (2014-2023). C, Excess deaths attributable to the US mortality disadvantage (1980-2023). D, Linear extrapolation of the prepandemic trend in excess deaths over the period from 2020 to 2023. B and D start in 2014 to enable visualization of trends immediately before, during, and after the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The comparison set of HICs included Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In panel D, the solid orange line shows the linear regression fit for 2014-2019; the dotted orange line extrapolates this trend through 2020-2023; the shaded area indicates 95% CIs; and the vertical black lines indicate deviations of excess US deaths from what would be expected based on the prepandemic trend.
Relative differences between the US and other HICs widened before and during the pandemic, particularly among younger adults, before contracting in 2022 and 2023. Age-standardized mortality rate ratios comparing the US with the average of other HICs were 1.20 in 2010, 1.28 in 2019, 1.46 in 2021, and 1.30 in 2023 (Table). In 2023, mortality among US adults aged 25-44 years was 2.6 times higher than in other HICs (Figure, B). Table. Observed Deaths, Expected Deaths, Mortality Rate Ratios, and Excess Deaths Attributable to the US Mortality Disadvantage, 1980-2023 Observed Deaths, Expected Deaths, Mortality Rate Ratios, and Excess Deaths Attributable to the US Mortality Disadvantage, 1980-2023 (opens in new tab) Year All ages Children and adults (aged 0-64 y) Older adults (aged ≥65 y) No. of US deaths Mortality rate ratio No. of excess US deaths (% of observed) No. of US deaths Mortality rate ratio No. of excess US deaths (% of observed) No. of US deaths Mortality rate ratio No. of excess US deaths (% of observed) Observed Expected Observed Expected Observed Expected 1980 1 989 837 2 031 945 0.98 −42 109 (−2.1) 647 614 522 254 1.24 125 360 (19.4) 1 342 222 1 509 691 0.89 −167 469 (−12.5) 1990 2 148 467 2 058 809 1.04 89 658 (4.2) 606 088 461 031 1.31 145 057 (23.9) 1 542 379 1 597 778 0.97 −55 399 (−3.6) 2000 2 403 399 2 048 411 1.17 354 987 (14.8) 603 345 447 098 1.35 156 247 (25.9) 1 800 054 1 601 313 1.12 198 741 (11.0) 2010 2 468 426 2 059 256 1.20 409 170 (16.6) 670 064 456 743 1.47 213 322 (31.8) 1 798 362 1 602 513 1.12 195 849 (10.9) 2019 2 854 826 2 223 579 1.28 631 247 (22.1) 737 398 419 815 1.76 317 583 (43.1) 2 117 428 1 803 764 1.17 313 664 (14.8) 2020 3 383 749 2 375 380 1.42 1 008 369 (29.8) 874 271 436 569 2.00 437 702 (50.1) 2 509 479 1 938 812 1.29 570 667 (22.7) 2021 3 464 260 2 365 452 1.46 1 098 808 (31.7) 969 489 441 582 2.20 527 908 (54.5) 2 494 771 1 923 871 1.30 570 900 (22.9) 2022 3 279 915 2 459 519 1.33 820 396 (25.0) 853 052 432 049 1.97 421 003 (49.4) 2 426 863 2 027 470 1.20 399 393 (16.5) 2023 3 081 628 2 376 297 1.30 705 331 (22.9) 777 813 419 866 1.85 357 947 (46.0) 2 303 815 1 956 431 1.18 347 384 (15.1)
Excess deaths attributable to the US mortality disadvantage peaked at 1 008 369 in 2020 and 1 098 808 in 2021, then declined to 820 396 in 2022 and 705 331 in 2023. These numbers followed 4 decades of rising excess deaths, reaching 631 247 in 2019 (Figure, C and Table). In 2023, excess US deaths accounted for 22.9% of all deaths and 46.0% of deaths among US residents younger than 65 years (Table).
Regression analysis demonstrated that the rising trend in excess US deaths before 2020 continued during the pandemic. Excess deaths in 2023, although lower than in 2020 to 2022, were higher than in 2019 and consistent with the slope established from 2014 to 2019 (Figure, D). Discussion
Between 1980 and 2023, the total number of excess US deaths reached an estimated 14.7 million.1 Although excess deaths per year peaked in 2021, there were still more than 1.5 million during 2022 to 2023. In 2023, excess death rates remained substantially higher than prepandemic rates. The rising trend from 1980 to 2019 appears to have continued during and after the pandemic, likely reflecting prepandemic causes of death, including drug overdose, firearm injury, and cardiometabolic disease.6 These deaths highlight the continued consequences of US health system inadequacies, economic inequality, and social and political determinants of health.1-3,5
Study limitations include potential sensitivity to choice of comparison countries, use of provisional data for some countries in 2023, and lack of stratification to investigate differences by sex, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Our results suggest that policy solutions may be found in the experiences of other HICs. Future research is needed to identify the specific causes of the widening US mortality disadvantage and opportunities for intervention.
This one was actually easy. If you use Firefox, click reader view, and the entire article is available. It’s rare, but sometimes it works.
well the article doesn’t seem to go into the Why
well duh.
When it becomes impossible to afford to A. have a family B. hell even be in a relationship C. afford a home D. rent for the rest of your life and then struggle to pay rent or meet the annual rent increases and E. wages continue to stagnate there’s really not much of a point in living.
Add all this to the US healthcare system where if you get sick you essentially have to “hope for the best” or if it’s something incredibly serious you then become dependent on the kindness of strangers via a GoFundMe then yeah…it’s grim.
My wife and I are older millennials, born in the 80s. I’m morbidly obese and she’s an alcoholic and a smoker. We’re doing our part.
Millenials […] early adult.
😂
Seeing 25-44 being referred to as early adult was the first thing to put a smile on my face since I turned 40
I guess so many of us aren’t having kids and can’t afford houses that we come across like young adults from earlier generations!
Damn, if only my biology would play ball when I look in my parent’s mirror and see my receded hairline.
I got carded at a bar a few weeks ago for the first time in years, and now I find out I’m still an “early adult”, despite being over 40? Hell yeah!
Does it have something to do with wealth inequality and quality of life being so inextricable from personal wealth? That would be my guess, but I don’t know for sure bc paywall… Oh well.
I’m sure some of it is wealth distribution and some is access to healthcare. Culture also has an effect of course. But from the chart I saw in one these comments shows 22-44 year olds being 2.5 times more likely to die than other high income countries. That sounds absurd. (As in bad, not unbelievable)
Definitely but quality of life is tied to healthcare, and in the U.S. access to healthcare is sadly tied to wealth.
If you compare economic realities for millennials in the US compared to other wealthy nations what does it look like? Genuine question, but these type of demographic problems frequently have economic underpinnings such as less access to health care, financial stability and quality food along with increased exposure to environmental toxins, access to guns, drugs and alcohol combined with a culture that requires driving to live except in very specific places.
Speaking of mental health, I am outside the specified range listed here (by just a few years) but my mental health declined significantly during and following the pandemic and for a variety of reasons, but I can absolutely see older millennials struggling with hitting middle-age with few assets to their name due to the massive transfer of wealth upwards which accelerated just as they were entering the job market. Who can blame them for wanting to give up when they were left out in the cold waiting for a chance at a future that was stolen years ago? Every year it seems more evident that our society has failed and we’re just watching it slowly crumble around us.
This is pretty much it.
I was coasting along, and doing pretty well for myself. Things needed to be changed politically, but nothing dire. Working on that change. Then everything went off a f&@“ng cliff into the ocean.
Life is bleak, and like any disaster, know where the exits are.
I blame the boomers for being way too selfish. They’re ruining it for everyone else
i told my mother (boomer generation) that now that she’s 70 she should think about planting a tree she will never see grow.
she looked at me like i told her to go fuck herself and told me that was dumb.
the boomer problem is an everyone problem.
Not all boomers.
Also, I don’t see all that much difference in boomer attitudes than some of the ones I see/saw in the Silent Generation and the “Greatest” Generation when it comes to at least a subset of them being very conservative and selfish in older age.
No, but enough of them to remove most of the ladder rungs for anyone after the.
Ever since I can remember, I’d hear those from the boomer generation say similar things about older generations, both in TV/movies, and IRL.
What will be different about Gen Y once they become the wealthiest generation in history? Is there some latent difference there which will be unleashed that will reverse the extreme wealth inequality that has been ramping up throughout the decades?
Time will tell, I guess.
Wasn’t there just an article about Gen X folks being a significant part of the reason trump won the vote? I don’t think we’re heading anywhere good just by generation trends.
Yeah, I didn’t love seeing people in my “generation” trending toward the cons. I think it tends to happen with every generation, unfortunately. Well, at least so far. We’ll see what kind of disruptions there are on the horizon.
What will be different about Gen Y once they become the wealthiest generation in history?
😂
Not sure if you are laughing because you expect it to be no different than prior generations or if you didn’t know they are set to become the richest generation in history?
Yeah… it’s s vast majority
Well, they can’t take it with them.
The Great Wealth Transfer is under way, and I’ve read that Gen Y is poised to become the wealthiest generation in history. Will they be any different than the boomers or the Silent Generation or the Greatest Generation? (I’m Gen X; we are used to being ignored and sidelined at nearly every turn, lol) What will they do with all that wealth? Do they, by dint of being born between two arbitrary years, have some magical property other generations don’t?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wealth_Transfer
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/01/economy/millennials-richest-generation-in-history/index.html
This is such bullshit. Many will never see this wealth transfer, either because they have no intergenerational wealth in their family, or because the real enemy is looking to prevent it from passing down. Many states have laws that’ll make mortgage rates and taxes increase when that wealth gets passed down, causing many people to sell that capital for short term income, further driving the younger generations into fiefdom for the wealthy feudal lords. It’s a self reinforcing cycle that makes a middle class statistically impossible. No bourgeoisie; only nobility.
There is no winning at this late stage capitalism, because we no longer live in a system where people can save, aquire wealth, and retire. One bad day is all it takes for almost anyone to lose everything, and those bad days are engineered to be so frequent that it’s all but guaranteed eventually. The only wealth transfer is into the pockets of those who already have extreme wealth, and you will not be one of those people.
They didn’t even read their own links. From the Wikipedia page they linked (emphasis mine) :
Inheritance has become more common among households, with 60% of surveyed households in 2022 having received, expecting to receive, or planning to leave inheritances. Wealthy individuals make up 1.5% of all households but constitute 42% of the expected transfers through 2045, approximately $35.8 trillion. The wealthiest 10% of households will give and receive the vast majority of the wealth, with the top 1% holding about as much wealth as the bottom 90%
First off, the background is based on surveys, not hard data of any type. Expecting an inheritance doesn’t mean being guaranteed to receive one. Where’s the actual data? Second, it’s painfully clear that this “great wealth transfer” is going to miss the vast majority of us. How OP could’ve read this and interpreted it to mean that Gen Y/Millennials are somehow, as a cohort, supposed to become super wealthy? I have no idea.
Then their CNN link, from its very first paragraph (again, emphasis mine) :
However, over the next twenty years, Millennials are poised to inherit some $90 trillion of assets and become the richest generation in history – but only the ones who already come from affluent families, potentially deepening wealth inequality further.
It’s just rich people doing rich people things. This inter-generational phrasing is propaganda to distract us from the real opposition, the ultra wealthy, who are holding all of us down regardless of our age.
There is no war but class war.
I’m sure they did read the content in the links. The point they are making is exactly your final line. There’s this refrain of “Boomers are ruining everything!” but the reality is it’s a small number of people with a lot of money using that money to do what they please at everyone else’s expense.
When the last “boomer” dies, the problem will remain. If we collectively fail to address it, then it’s just going to change up to “Dang GenYs ruining everything!”
I did indeed read both links. You seem to be missing the point.
The article makes points about the distribution and that Gen Y, along with being the wealthiest generation in history, will likely have even more inequality than prior generations.
I guess we’ll see if Gen Y does something different than any generation prior.
I don’t feel like we need to spend much effort predicting how the “wealthiest generation of history” with relatively unprecedented amounts of wealth inequality is going to play out. Rich assholes will feel entitles to become even richer with only extremely weak societal checks to keep them from running amuck. I expect the leadership of gen y to be - at a baseline - even more violent and exploitative than the current leadership meta
70 could live 10-20 more years. You can see a tree grow in several years. If was kind of a duck comment
Yeah, I don’t know mom and maybe she deserves it or it makes more sense in context, but to me that comment sounds like “you’re old and you’re going to die soon.”
The saying, “Society grows great when old men plant trees under whose shade they know they’ll never sit,” is pretty well known. Unless you’re (mom) looking to pick a fight over some ‘bitch, that’s a whole new sentence’ interpretative inference, SOP’s statement can’t be taken as ““you’re old and you’re going to die soon.””
- I’m scrabbling and doing everything to stay alive for my parents so that they don’t worry. When they pass, fuck it, I’ll probably help the statistic along.
I feel you. If not for the immediate family, the aging dog, and maybe one or two friends that I have to be the one to put effort into maintaining any contact, no one would miss me or care. I don’t want to hurt them. My sibling is not directly trying to actively ‘go in’ (the community/activity word for dying in the course of the activity) in their hobby, but it’s a hobby with a death rate of about 1/20 per year of participants. In all likelihood, since I’m caring for one of my parents, I’ll get to see all of them pass on within a short period and then make my decisions.
Quite similar to me. I just barely care enough about my parents. Also, thanks to the financial situation we’re in … they’ve decided to move into my house and not move out.
Like I earn decent change (not enough for two mortgages, mind you) but I’m already in my forties and I’m waiting for them to pass. I’m barely mentally holding onto living this day-to-day life while not freaking out on them on the regular.
Can I be next?
Sorry but I’m next in line
Let’s make it a 2-for-1.
That’s not a suicide booth, that’s Bender’s apartment.
As long as it’s “slow and horrible death” mode.
Aw, man, I hate seeing your name, but always love seeing that it’s you. I wish I could make it better for you.
It sounds like the US is just a dangerous place to live in a variety of ways, it’s interesting that traffic fatalities are one of the reasons behind their high rate of premature death.
Still others highlight America’s permissive gun laws
While I don’t have numbers broken out by age range, over half of all gun deaths in America each year are suicides. Source: https://gunviolencearchive.org/
Instead of banning guns and calling it done, maybe we should help those people to want to be alive. That way, so-called permissive gun laws simply wouldn’t be relevant.
Add it to the pile…
…?
are you still with us, boydster?? WAKE UP!!!
You could safe it by turning the title into “American Billionaires are Dying at an Alarming Rate”
I think you mean “aren’t” dying at a high enough rate?
I meant that would fix the situation but I didn’t write it well
