Do wealthy Americans live as long as wealthy Europeans?

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Suppose two people are 65. Both have savings, a home and a doctor. One lives in the United States and the other in Germany or Spain.

Would you expect their chances of living the next twelve years to match?

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 2025 asked that question.

Researchers at Brown University followed 73,838 adults aged 50 to 85, in the United States and 16 European countries, for about twelve years. The United States data came from the Health and Retirement Study. The European data came from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.

People were sorted into four equal groups by wealth, counting everything except their home. The groups were made within each country and age band. A wealthy person was compared with others of the same age in the same country.

The European countries were grouped by region. Northern and western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Southern Europe: Italy, Portugal and Spain. Eastern Europe: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia.

Death rates in Europe compared with the United States, ages 50 to 85, about 2010 to 2022

Reported in coverage of the study. The pattern held in every wealth group.

Americans in every wealth group had higher death rates than Europeans in the same group. For the wealthiest quarter, the rate in northern and western Europe was roughly 35% lower than in the United States.

The wealthiest Americans had survival rates similar to the poorest quarter in northern and western Europe.

Wealth also made a different amount of difference in each place.

How much less likely the wealthiest quarter was to die than the poorest quarter

The figure for northern and western Europe was not in the summaries we read.

So wealth was linked to a larger difference in survival in the United States than in Europe. The poorest Americans had the lowest survival of any group in the study.

The researchers offer possible reasons. The lead author, Irene Papanicolas, points to differences in social support and in how health care is tied to work. More Europeans at every wealth level had a college education. Deaths from firearms, alcohol and suicide were higher in the United States. The authors also note that the United States spends significantly more on health care than other wealthy countries.

These are possible explanations. The study counted who died and cannot show which cause matters most.

You may ask whether moving would change one person's odds. The study compared residents of each place. It did not follow people who moved. The next article covers what is known about that.

The study covers ages 50 to 85 and counts deaths over about twelve years. It is not a life expectancy figure.

For two 65-year-olds with the same savings, the study found lower odds of dying in the next twelve years for the one in Europe.

What do you see around you that shapes how long people live? Tell us in the comments. Someone may be looking for the same answer.

Sources we read

Brown University, "Wealth and mortality gap" news release, April 2025. https://www.brown.edu/news/2025-04-02/wealth-mortality-gap

The Conversation, authors' summary of the New England Journal of Medicine study. https://theconversation.com/americans-die-earlier-at-all-wealth-levels-even-if-wealth-buys-more-years-of-life-in-the-us-than-in-europe-253620

News-Medical, "Even rich Americans live shorter lives than poor Europeans". https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250407/Even-rich-Americans-live-shorter-lives-than-poor-Europeans-study-finds.aspx

Fortune, interview with Irene Papanicolas. https://www.fortune.com/well/article/wealthy-americans-shorter-lifespan-europe

Yahoo News, coverage of the study (35% figure for the wealthiest quarter). https://www.yahoo.com/news/even-wealthiest-americans-suffering-shorter-210500808.html