It may come as a surprise to many, but once again we fail to find evidence that the United States has particularly good healthcare for an industrialized nation. According to our own government's figures, 42 countries have better infant mortality rates than do we - including Cuba.
To put this in perspective, if our rate (6.50 infant deaths per 1,000 live births) were improved to match that of #1 ranked Singapore (2.29 infant deaths per 1,000 live births), the lives of 17,859 babies would be saved each year in the US.
Does our poor showing in infant mortality cause our poor showing in life expectancy?
US life expectancy ranks only 48th in the world. If we brought our infant mortality rate down to that of top-ranked Singapore, the overall effect on life expectancy would be less than an extra four months per person. This would bring our life expectancy ranking from 48th to 44th in the world (we'd now be between Jordan and Guadeloupe). Thus, our poor infant mortality does not substantially account for our poor life expectancy.
