this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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[–] SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, you have to factor the guy’ s class into it, not just his age.

The problem with the “avg age at time of death” is that it picks up thinks like infant mortality (1.7% in 2002 and 2.9% in 1979). You also have to look at the contribution of wealth and class.

Even there, the better metric for a person might be “expected years of life remaining.” Since someone who is 65 didn’t die in infancy and wasn’t killed as a teen, all of those factors (which drag life expectancy down) can be ignored. If you’re still talking populations and cohorts, you’re still factoring in things like poverty and access to healthcare, but it might give a better understanding of the statistical probability of a person to die of natural causes in a hotel at that age.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

it picks up thinks like infant mortality

Russia has a lower infant mortality than the US. Free healthcare. If anything, that lower infant mortality rate would lead you to expect a higher life expectancy than the US.

Although it's changing, the thing that drags down life expectancy in Russia really is alcoholism. Especially with older generations of men who drink like goldfish:

More than 30% of all deaths in Russia in 2012 were attributable to alcohol, according to WHO data crunched by the OECD. That’s by far the highest among the nations it tracked. ... More than 30% of all deaths in Russia in 2012 were attributable to alcohol, according to WHO data crunched by the OECD. That’s by far the highest among the nations it tracked.

Apparently, because younger people drink significantly less, life expectancy rose to 68 in 2018. Not too long ago, most Russian men didn't live past 65. I suspect that'll be a record for a while longer, given the average life expectancy and the scale of losses on the Ukrainian front.

[–] SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 year ago

The comparative death rates between Russia and the US have literally nothing to do with the facts under discussion, which is whether a given 65 year old person’s death should be done considered because of a population - level statistical characteristic. What are you on about?

Nothing that you observed does anything but reinforce the point that expected-time-of-remaining life on a cohort basis including wealth and privilege is the only way to make an accurate judgement as to the expectations involved in a given death.