STAY SOBER –
FEB. 24, 2026 – While life expectancy has recovered relative to recent American history, the U.S. is experiencing the most dramatic peacetime decline in longevity when judged against other high-income countries. If the United States had mortality rates comparable to other wealthy nations, we would have prevented more than one million deaths in 2020 and 1.1 million deaths in 2021. To put that in perspective: We’ve created the statistical equivalent of wiping out a city the size of Austin, Texas, every single year.
And that doesn’t include the years preceding these deaths, when people were hobbled by disabilities, illness, and despair that stopped them from fulfilling their potential and robbed us as a society of what they might have contributed. There is a ripple effect across communities and generations—the effects these early deaths have on children who grow up without a parent; families that become mired in poverty after the untimely death of their primary breadwinner. We’re talking about millions of missed soccer games, high school graduations, camping trips, and anniversary celebrations: all the unrealized milestones of fully lived lives.
