Researchers from Brown University compared survival rates in the United States and Europe across different socioeconomic classes. They found that the survival gap between rich and poor in the United States is greater than in Europe. Furthermore, survival rates even among the wealthiest Americans are no higher than those of the poorest Europeans from Western and Northern Europe. The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Life expectancy and survival rates are used to assess the demographics of a society. Life expectancy is a numerical value in years, while survival rates provide an estimate of the proportion of people who survive to a given age. Survival rates depend on the prevalence of diseases, the level of healthcare, social conditions, and wealth. Income differences between groups can be compensated for through social programs aimed at reducing gaps in access to healthcare and social security.
American scientists led by Irene Papanicolas of Brown University compared survival rates across different socioeconomic groups in the United States and Europe. In a retrospective cohort study (2010–2022), they used information from databases on health, mortality, and sociodemographic characteristics of people aged 50 to 85. People were divided into four wealth groups, with the first quartile representing the poorest participants and the fourth the wealthiest.
The researchers then constructed Kaplan-Meier survival curves for each quartile for the United States and countries in Northern, Western, Eastern, and Southern Europe. The analysis used a proportional hazards model, including adjustments for sociodemographic factors (age, gender, education level, and place of residence).
Of the 73,838 study participants, 18.7 percent (13,802 people) died during the study period. Among all participants, high levels of well-being were associated with low mortality.
According to the Kaplan-Meier curves, the gap in survival between the rich and the poor in the United States was greater than in European countries, and the survival rate among the richest Americans was at the level of the poorest Europeans from Northern and Western Europe (about 80 percent).
Commenting on the study, the authors point to the shortcomings of the social safety net in the United States and the wider socioeconomic gap between classes compared to European countries. The study will help understand how the existing social protection and healthcare systems can be improved.
Life expectancy steadily increased throughout the 20th century, but since 1990, its growth has slowed. This trend was reported by American researchers after analyzing the demographic indicators of countries with the highest life expectancies.
