I'm not sure. I don't think anyone knows for sure, but obesity probably heavily factors into it.

53% of Europeans are overweight or obese. The same figure in the US is 72%. That's a 36% difference.

More than that, 17% of Europeans are obese (BMI >30) compared to the US's 42%.

The fact that the US has a life expectancy of 79.1 compared to the EU's 81.5 years with that kind of difference in obesity levels is actually surprising. You would expect it to be lower than that in the US.

> compared to the EU's 81.5 years with that kind of difference in obesity levels is actually surprising

It's probably considerable higher in EU15 i.e. if we exclude all the poor (currently or previously) ex-socialist Central and Eastern European countries that have a lot of baggage

Or at least men in those countries:

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/2/...

Worse in some ways, better in others. The USA generally has higher 5-year cancer survival rates, and shorter waits for specialist visits and advanced imaging procedures. Of course there's a high variance in outcomes based on location and affluence.

> shorter waits for specialist visits and advanced imaging procedures

Those are not health outcomes, but merely services KPAs. The KPAs may be better, because a portion of population can't afford the services, so they don't have to be serviced at all.

> can't afford the services, so they don't have to be serviced at all.

If that's true how could:

> The USA generally has higher 5-year cancer survival rates

Still be true? Not providing any services to a significant proportion of population would result in a much lower average.

Not if they are not part of statistic as they cant afford it.

Any evidence that a significant proportion of people (compared to other countries) who died of cancer in the US were never diagnosed?

43% vs 13% obesity is a theory

Actually, given that, it's kinda remarkable the US life expectancy is only 2 years less.