U.S. ranks 30th in terms of infant mortality
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We’re number 30! We’re number 30! According to a report released this week from the National Center for Health Statistics, these United States rank 30th in the world when it comes to infant mortality. That is to say that there are 29 countries where infants are less likely to die than here.
When it comes to the marker of infant mortality, we’re behind Poland, Northern Ireland, Cuba, Hungary, Canada, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, England and Wales, Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Belgium, France, Portugal, Czech Republic, Norway, Finland, Japan, Hong Kong, Sweden and Singapore.
Specifically, 1 in 8 babies is born preterm in America. More worrisome is the stat that shows that preterm births have risen 36% in the U.S. since 1984. Generally poor health, including smoking, drug and alcohol abuse are contributing factors in pre-term births.
We know that Americans spend much more on healthcare than any nation on earth. In fact, we spend 44% more per capita than the next country down on the list (Switzerland). We also know that our system wastes upwards of $800 billion each year.
Kind of puts the whole “best healthcare system in the world” boasting in perspective, I’d say.
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Additional perspective could be gained if you delved deeply enough into the subject to lend some context. For example, In France, which is ranked ahead of the US in infant mortality, a child born at less than 26 weeks which then dies is considered never to have been born, so its lost life is not included in that country’s infant mortality. In some others, even full term babies aren’t included unless they survice birth by 24 hours. Its important to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples, as the saying goes.
DON’T TELL THE GOP.
shame is NOT part of their life.