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It's only true if you treat the EU as a whole and do not differentiate between Eastern and Western Europe. Almost every Western Europe country has a life expectancy at birth significantly higher than the US: Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Ireland, Germany, UK, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland. Only Denmark and Portugal are comparable.
The EU as a whole has comparable life expectancy only because of the poorer countries of Eastern Europe -- Albania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Croatia, Hungary...
Quote:
Originally Posted by srsmn
Well, ok, so let's get rid of the Southern states, and then make the comparison with Western Europe.
If you compare *any* state north of the Mason-Dixon line to *any* country in Western Europe, you start to actually have a fair comparison.
Yes, let's just pick and choose which regions we include to make our arguments.
That's dumb. Y'all are acting like there is this incredible difference between the regions. There is a difference, yes...but not as huge as you make it out to be.
As for the U.S., there is a difference of 7.9 years between the highest (Hawaii) and the lowest (Washington DC). Those are the extremes. Between the regions, there is only a difference of 2.3 years between the highest (West) and lowest (South).
By region:
West - 79.2
Northeast - 79.1
Midwest - 78.0
South - 76.9
high/low difference of 2.3 years
By sub region:
Pacific - 79.6
New England - 79.6
Mid-Atlantic - 78.9
West North Central - 78.7
Mountain - 78.3
East North Central - 77.7
South Atlantic - 77.4
West South Central - 76.7
East South Central - 75.5
high/low difference of 4.1 years
It's not like we're comparing 1st world and 3rd world countries. Let's keep things in perspective.
cute stories I'm from Poland and love when ppl in US act knowledgeable and say "oh, Amsterdam is a beautiful city". I live in US since 1989 and it still amazes me how much refuse this country produces and how much food goes wasted.
alright alright people. you guys definiely love to exaggerate here. quit the generalizations. my fattest friend weighs probably around 250 pounds and is 6'3" and ran the mile in 7 minutes.. probably faster than any of you little flakes here with your friggin organics and crap. what a bunch of fruitcakes you people are..
europeans, you want generalizations, take a friggin bath and then you can run your mouths.
alright alright people. you guys definiely love to exaggerate here. quit the generalizations. my fattest friend weighs probably around 250 pounds and is 6'3" and ran the mile in 7 minutes.. probably faster than any of you little flakes here with your friggin organics and crap. what a bunch of fruitcakes you people are..
europeans, you want generalizations, take a friggin bath and then you can run your mouths.
C'mon now, we have to admit that we have a lot of fatties in this country, and not all Euros need a bath.
Anyhow, I just had to add that I was recently in the Everglades for an airboat tour. A family speaking in French was waiting for their tour time with us, and the parents were pretty obese and poorly dressed. I figured they had to be French-Canadian. No way they could be that fat, poorly dressed and European, right? Wrong. So, there went that thinking.
After the tour, I saw them get into a rented GMC Denali.
People are more polite here. Someone told me once that Europeans are very direct and confrontational and are not shy about criticizing you if there is something they do not like about you. This may not be true for all parts of the country.
Second that! I still HATE it when my American friends beat around the bush even after telling them a gazillion times that we are friends so we can be honest with each other. American indirectness - or my straightforwardness - has led to many issues and arguments.
On the other hand, I met quite a few Americans who proved that stereotype wrong and most of my friends are not very stereotypical (i.e. not what the average European thinks of the average American).
I was surprised at how friendly all the people were. Walking down the street and i had people saying 'good morning' or 'good day' to me. People seemed much more approachable than in England. I imagine this would vary from city to city but it was very nice having a conversation with a random foreigner. All the people i spoke to were very down to earth and inquisitive to.
What did strike me however was the amount of fat people. Britain is bad and i do think we will catch you up but i couldn't believe the size and how common it was to see such a large person.
The last thing is how neat all the grass is. Sounds strange but everyones yard was cut, all the parks and grass areas were all perfectly cut. Makes the place look a lot neater.
The whole "fat people" argument I think is actually regional within the US itself. I live in California- where practically everyone seems to workout at the gym and are somewhat fit. On the other hand I grew up in the South. I didn't notice it until I took a plane back home the first time after moving here. People back home are wayyyyyy fatter than out here. The last leg of my trip was on a small regional jet. Half the people could barely fit in their seats. I've always been a sort of skinny guy so it was very much noticeable.
when you are at an airport you can almost always tell where a plane is arriving from.
One comment I heard on a plane form Saint Louis to OC (from a St. Louis Local). "Look at the people on this plane they all look like models and athletes. You can tell we are going to Southern California"
To tell the truth, if you go to the poorer sections of OC, you will still see a lot of obese and poorly dressed people.
I would buy that a little. I believe people that live in major metros- particularly in the city cores- are a bit more vain. Its sort of the same out here in Cali. Leave San Francisco and head out towards say- Sacramento, or the inner empire and people tend to drive big honkin' trucks and be a bit fatter. Same was true when I lived around Nashville: People in the city itself- especially those involved with the music biz- were more fit and trim. Leave the city and wallah... fatter people.
I don't understand why obesity seems to be such a noticeable problem in the South. Its not the traditional regional cuisine. Both of my Grandparents ate a lot of fried food,butter soaked vegetables, and bacon. But they were skinny people. I grew up eating the same stuff. I'm also pretty skinny. So are all of my relatives. In fact- I'm only in my 30's and don't recall people being particularly large when I was a kid. Its only been more recently that this trend seems to have occurred.
Another thing I've wondered about is whether people overseas have this sort of overly positive and perhaps unrealistic view of the US. I say this because there have been a number of times for various reasons that I've thought about leaving here and moving to Australia, NZ, or Southern France. I've never been to any of those places but they seem wonderful.
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I'm from Poland and love when ppl in US act knowledgeable and say "oh, Amsterdam is a beautiful city". I live in US since 1989 and it still amazes me how much refuse this country produces and how much food goes wasted.
