The gap in life expectancy between the United States and its peer nations has grown over the last two decades. The most recent life expectancy at birth (2022) in the United States (77.6 years) was among the lowest life expectancies found among all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries (the average was 80.6 years).1 Many authors have focused on the United States’ disproportionately high spending on health care, suggesting that life expectancy should be higher in this country as a result;2 3 4 however, both clinical and nonclinical factors, including certain public health investments and social and economic factors, are strongly correlated with decreases in longevity.5 6 7

While the life expectancy in the United States is an outlier among high-income countries, it is also an outlier in other ways that affect longevity. This snapshot examines the impact on life expectancy from three common, preventable causes of death in the United States: alcohol, drugs, and firearms....