Colloidal Minerals: The United States ranks 17th in average life expectancy on a list of 32 developed nations.

The United States ranks 17th in average life expectancy on a list of 33 developed nations, while Japan holds the lead, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported yesterday.

The average U.S. life expectancy of 75 years trails Japan's life expectancy by 4.1 years, but beats the lowest of the group, Hungary, by more than five years. The average Hungarian lives 69.7 years, the CDC said.

The United States also ranked near the middle of the 32 nations in death rates from all causes; 828.4 deaths are reported in the United States for each 100,000 people each year. Japan was best at 628.8, and Romania was worst at 1,242.

The leading cause of death in the United States, heart disease, hits harder here than in other countries. The U.S. mortality rate from heart disease was 382 per 100,000 per year for men and 214 for women, compared with 339 and 206 in the other 32 developed countries.

Throughout the 33 countries, heart disease accounted for 30 percent of all deaths, with cancer causing 21 percent and stroke causing 14 percent.

The CDC study included countries defined as developed according to a 1963 United Nations standard pegged to reproductive rates: countries where the average woman has fewer than two daughters who, themselves, survive their childbearing years. Such areas include the United States and Canada, the Soviet Union, most of Europe, some Latin American nations, Japan and Australia.

Fourteen percent of all deaths in the 32 countries - about 1.5 million a year - are attributed to smoking, the CDC said. And fewer Americans smoke, compared with the other countries; 31 percent of U.S. males and 26 percent of American females smoke, compared with 41 percent of men and 29 percent of women in the other countries.

"The large number of deaths attributable to cigarette smoking indicates that reductions of this risk factor would substantially increase life expectancy in the developed world," the Atlanta-based CDC said.

Life Expectancy in 32 Countries

Rankings of developed countries,

according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Life Expectancy in 32 Countries (1996)
Country	Age	Country	Age
Japan	79.1	U.S.	75.0
Switz.	77.6	Denmark	74.9
Iceland	77.4	Finland	74.8
Sweden	77.1	Malta	74.8
Spain	76.6	Belgium	74.3
W. Germ.	75.8	Czech.	71.0
Italy	75.5	Poland	71.0
Britain	75.3	Yugo.	71.0
Israel	75.2	Romania	69.9
Austria	75.1	U.S.S.R.	69.8

Education And Income Not Only Make You Wiser And Wealthier; They Also Are Linked To Health And Longevity.

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