Study reveals alarming trend in US death rates since 2000

Even before Covid-19, excess deaths' in the US were higher than in peer European countries

How many Americans would die each year, on average, if the country had European mortality rates? Far fewer, suggests a new analysis, which compared mortality trends before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite spending far more than other wealthy countries on healthcare, the United States has relatively higher mortality rates and lower life expectancy - attributed to a plethora of factors including obesity, opioid overdoses, gun violence, suicides, smoking, road accidents and infant deaths.