The United States loves to come out on top. According to a study, among wealthy, developed countries, the US is number one in obesity, dying young, and STDs.

But that’s not all America tops the charts with. We are also leading the way with the most injuries, homicides, teen pregnancies, drug abuse, diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, disabilities, and infant mortality.

Doesn’t it feel so good to be number one? With all of these negative statistics, we have one more to add- Americans also spend an average of $8,600/person on healthcare.

This is more than double that of any other developed country like Sweden, Britain, or France- “even with their universal healthcare systems”. It gets worse the younger you go.

“It’s a tragedy. Our report found that an equally large, if not larger, disadvantage exists among younger Americans,” said Dr. Steven Woolf, chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“The size of the health disadvantage was pretty stunning,” Woolf told reporters.

Where are we pointing the finger? At American culture.

“We have a culture in our country … that cherishes personal autonomy and wants to limit intrusion of government and other entities upon our personal lives,” Woolf says. “Some of those forces may act against the ability to achieve optimal health outcomes.”

“It’s clearly not pollution or some other outside factor,” said Ana Diez Roux, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, who also served on the panel. “It seems to be a whole bunch of things acting together,” she said.

“Something fundamentally is going wrong to cause our country to lose ground against other high-income countries,” Woolf added.

Oddly enough, Americans that are able to reach the age of 75 are likely to outlive those in other countries.

Paul Hudson | Elite.