---
type: source
title: "Global Healthspan-Lifespan Gaps Among 183 World Health Organization Member States"
author: "Garmany et al. (Mayo Clinic)"
url: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2827753
date: 2024-12-02
domain: health
secondary_domains: []
format: research-paper
status: processed
processed_by: vida
processed_date: 2026-04-04
priority: high
tags: [healthspan, lifespan, disability-adjusted, WHO, global-health, US-exceptionalism, belief-1, noncommunicable-diseases]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

Published in *JAMA Network Open*, December 2, 2024. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.50241. Mayo Clinic researchers. Examined healthspan-lifespan gaps across 183 WHO member states, 2000–2019.

**Key findings:**
- Global healthspan-lifespan gap widened from 8.5 years (2000) to 9.6 years (2019) — a 13% increase.
- **The United States has the LARGEST healthspan-lifespan gap in the world: 12.4 years.**
- Other large-gap nations: Australia (12.1 years), New Zealand (11.8 years), UK (11.3 years), Norway (11.2 years).
- Sex disparities: Women's gap is 2.4 years wider than men's on average.
- Gaps positively associated with burden of noncommunicable diseases and total morbidity.
- Companion WHO data: US healthspan actually DECLINED from 65.3 years (2000) to 63.9 years (2021).

**Context:** This is the JAMA study behind the claim that "Americans live 12.4 years on average with disability and sickness." The US has the largest lifespan-healthspan gap of any developed nation despite having the highest healthcare spending per capita.

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** This is the critical distinction between the 2024 CDC headline (life expectancy record 79 years) and the actual binding constraint. While life expectancy recovered in 2024 (driven by opioid decline + COVID dissipation), healthspan — years lived without disability — DECLINED from 65.3 to 63.9 years. The US has the worst healthy-to-sick ratio among all high-income countries. This directly strengthens Belief 1: the constraint is on *productive, healthy years*, not raw survival.
**What surprised me:** The US has the world's LARGEST healthspan-lifespan gap despite being one of the wealthiest countries. This is not a poverty story — it's a structural healthcare failure that persists even in affluent populations. The wealthiest country produces the least healthy years per life year lived.
**What I expected but didn't find:** Any evidence that the US healthspan-lifespan gap is improving. The trend is widening.
**KB connections:** Core evidence for Belief 1 (healthspan as binding constraint); connects to Belief 3 (structural misalignment — high spending, worst outcomes); links to metabolic disease / food industry claims; relevant to VBC value proposition (preventing disability years, not just deaths).
**Extraction hints:** (1) "US has world's largest healthspan-lifespan gap (12.4 years) despite highest per-capita healthcare spending — structural system failure, not poverty"; (2) "US healthspan declined from 65.3 to 63.9 years (2000-2021) while life expectancy headline improved — lifespan and healthspan are diverging"; (3) "The binding constraint on US productive capacity is not life expectancy but healthy productive years, which are declining."
**Context:** Published December 2024. Cited widely in 2025-2026 longevity discourse. Particularly relevant because the 2024 CDC life expectancy record (January 2026 release) creates a misleading headline that masks the ongoing healthspan deterioration. The two datasets together tell the real story.

## Curator Notes
PRIMARY CONNECTION: PNAS 2026 cohort paper and Belief 1 grounding claims
WHY ARCHIVED: Provides the healthspan (not life expectancy) dimension of Belief 1; US 12.4-year gap is the most precise evidence that the binding constraint is on productive healthy years
EXTRACTION HINT: The pair of headlines — "US life expectancy record high 79 years" (CDC, Jan 2026) AND "US healthspan 63.9 years and declining" (WHO/JAMA, 2024) — tells the complete story. Extract as a compound claim about lifespan-healthspan divergence.
