But in the past decade and a half, middle-aged white Americans have actually been dying faster. While white death rates in America rose slightly, death rates in those other countries continued to plummet. Now, middle-aged white Americans are 45 percent more likely to die than middle-aged Germans. As Case and Deaton show, the gap in mortality between white middle-aged Americans and middle-aged Germans is about 125 deaths per 100,000 people now. While other countries have cut down heart disease deaths by over 40 percent in the past 15 years, heart disease remains a significant killer for white middle-aged Americans.

Source: Washington Post March 24, 2017 12:43 UTC