No. of Recommendations: 0
Differences in lifestyle choices (e.g., smoking, alcohol, exercise, diet), environmental factors like pollution, regional genetic differences affecting lifespan, differences in healthcare outcomes, just to name a few.
When wandering aimlessly around the world, there are demographic groups found "everywhere" who are instantly recognizable from a great distance. While these are, of course, stereotypes, they are accurate enough to frequently be obvious. They include Chinese tourists (who travel in impolite packs), Mormon missionaries (who are blond, wearing white shirts, black pants and badges - which, when you get close, introduce their rank as "Elder"), Hasidic Jews (men in black with beards and long "dread locks").
And, of course, Americans - recognizable not only by their loud voices and impolite manor, but by their tendency to be large and overweight. If there is a genotype for someone with diabetes, a large proportion of Americans exhibit it. A lifetime of eating junk food and processed "stuff" is taken for granted in an environment where the art of advertising (and lobbying) has trumped common sense when it comes to diet.
I don’t think it is BECAUSE we spend more on healthcare, but DESPITE our spending more that many of our countrymen/women are destined to die prematurely.
Jeff
