Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
class, education levels, and access to health care also
vary by region in the United States, and these correla-
tions are found for many health problems from diabetes
to heart disease.
According to the Offi ce of Minority Health and
Health Disparities at the Centers for Disease Control in
the United States, “The leading causes of infant death
include congenital abnormalities, pre-term/low birth
weight, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), prob-
lems related to complications of pregnancy, and respira-
tory distress syndrome. SIDS deaths among American
Indian and Alaska Natives is 2.3 times the rate for non-
Hispanic white mothers.”
Another measurement of the health of children
early in life is the newborn death rate, a measurement of
the number of children who die in the fi rst month of life
out of every 1000 live births. Surprisingly, the United
States has the
second highest newborn death rate
in the
world. The annual State of the World's Mothers report
explains that the high newborn death rate in the United
States and in other wealthy countries is typically from
premature births and low-birth-rate babies. In the poorer
countries of the world, diarrhea and infections cause half
of newborn deaths.
Figure 2.20 maps the Mother's Index from the State
of the World's Mothers report. The Mother's Index mea-
sures 10 barometers of well-being for mothers and chil-
dren. Although the United States has a high newborn
death rate, its position on the Mother's Index is high. The
overwhelmingly low measurements for Subsaharan Africa
on the Mother's Index confi rms that poverty is a huge fac-
tor in the health of women and children. Specifi cally,
99 percent of newborn deaths and 98 percent of maternal
deaths (deaths from giving birth) occur in the poorer
countries of the world.
In the countries in the world experiencing violent
confl ict, the Mother's Index plunges, and the chances of
newborn survival fall. Examine Figure 2.20 again and note
the position of countries that have violent confl ict or a
recent history of confl ict: Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia,
Sierra Leone, and Angola.
ries, causes the deaths of millions more. In some coun-
tries, more than one in fi ve children still die between
their fi rst and fi fth birthdays, a terrible record in the
twenty-fi rst century.
Life Expectancy
Another indicator of a society's well-being lies in the
life expectancy
of its members at birth, the number of
years, on average, someone may expect to remain alive.
Figure 2.21 shows the average life expectancies of popu-
lations by country and thus does not take into account
gender differences. Women outlive men by about four
years in Europe and East Asia, three years in Subsaharan
Africa, six years in North America, and seven years in
South America. In Russia today, the difference is
approximately 12 years.
The map does reveal huge regional contrasts. At
the start of the century, world average life expectancy
was 68 for women and 64 for men. Not only are these
levels exceeded in the wealthy countries of the West-
ern world, but great progress has also been made in
East Asia, where Japan's life expectancies are the high-
est in the world. With its low infant and child mortal-
ity rates and low fertility rates, Japan's life expectancy
is predicted to rise to 106 by the year 2300. By con-
trast, tropical Subsaharan African countries have the
lowest life expectancies. In Subsaharan Africa, the
spread of AIDS over the past three decades has low-
ered life expectancies in some countries below 40, a
level not seen for centuries.
Life expectancies can change in relatively short
order. In the former Soviet Union, and especially in Rus-
sia, the life expectancies of males dropped quite precipi-
tously following the collapse of communism, from 68 to
62 years. In 2010, the United Nations estimated the life
expectancy for males in Russia was 63. A 2010 report in
Foreign Affairs
credited “poor diet, smoking, sedentary
lifestyles” and alcoholism as the main reasons why men in
Russia have lower life expectancies than women.” In 2011,
the United Nations estimated Russia's life expectancy for
females was 75, twelve years longer than the life expec-
tancy of Russian men.
Life expectancy fi gures do not mean everyone lives
to a certain age. The fi gure is an average that takes account
of the children who die young and the people who survive
well beyond the average. The dramatically lower fi gures
for the world's poorer countries primarily refl ect high
infant mortality. A person who has survived beyond child-
hood can survive well beyond the recorded life expec-
tancy. The low life expectancy fi gures for the malnourished
countries remind us again how hard hit children are in
poorer parts of the world.
Child Mortality
Infants who survive their fi rst year of life still do not
have a long life expectancy in the poorer areas of the
world. The
child mortality rate
, which records the
deaths of children between the ages of 1 and 5, remains
staggeringly high in much of Africa and Asia, notably in
the protein-defi cient tropical and subtropical zones.
Kwashiorkor
(also known as protein malnutrition), a
malady resulting from a lack of protein early in life,
affl icts millions of children;
marasmus
, a condition that
results from inadequate protein and insuffi cient calo-
