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Poverty kills more Americans than obesity, guns and drugs: study

Scientists have now dubbed poverty the “silent killer.”

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By Pol Allingham via SWNS

Poverty kills more Americans than obesity, diabetes and murders, making it the nation’s fourth greatest cause of death, according to new analysis.

The only things that kill more people are heart disease, cancer and smoking.

Not earning enough money to meet basic needs was linked with around 183,000 deaths in the United States in 2019.

Scientists have now dubbed poverty the “silent killer.”

This is a conservative estimate - scientists note the data, focusing on those over 15 years old, was collected just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic which caused spikes in deaths worldwide.

The University of California, Riverside (UCR) researchers defined poverty as earning less than 50 percent of the median US income.

Suicides, firearms, homicides, and obesity, diabetes, and drug overdoses, were all less lethal than poverty.

Impoverished people have roughly the same survival rate until they reach their 40s. After this, they die at significantly high rates than those with more adequate incomes and resources.

Scientists believe their research has major policy implications and urge those in power to pay more attention to the issue.

(Photo by MART PRODUCTION via Pexels)

They added that beyond the emotional suffering of bereaved loved ones, death is expensive for a family, community and government.

UCR professor of public policy, David Brady, the study’s lead author, said: “Poverty kills as much as dementia, accidents, stroke, Alzheimer's, and diabetes.

“Poverty silently killed 10 times as many people as all the homicides in 2019. And yet, homicide firearms and suicide get vastly more attention.

“If we had less poverty, there'd be a lot better health and well-being, people could work more, and they could be more productive.

“All of those are benefits of investing in people through social policies.”

Income data analysis was compared with the National Death Index, which tracks deaths and their causes in the US.

The paper published in Journal of the American Medical Association states: “Because certain ethnic and racial minority groups are far more likely to be in poverty, our estimates can improve understanding of ethnic and racial inequalities in life expectancy.”

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