A new study that highlights the serious impacts of wealth inequality in the United Kingdom and United States suggests that being rich can add about nine “healthy” years to a person’s life.
The transatlantic study on “healthy life expectancy,” published Wednesday in the Journal of Gerontology, is based on data from more than 25,000 adults—10,754 in the U.K. and 14,803 in the U.S.—aged 50 and older. The data came from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS).
Although life expectancy for both countries has significantly risen over the past century, recent evidence has shown life expectancy falling in the U.S. and leveling off in the U.K. amid rising rates of disability and chronic conditions among older adults, the study notes. Previous research also has shown that Americans are worse off in terms of health compared to the British.