Why the Low Life Expectancy in Thailand?

[ingo67]

Road Traffic Accident deaths per capita 2nd highest in the world after Libya. Approx 24,000 deaths, UK with a similar population has less than 1800 deaths.

Plus alcoholism, smoking, drugs, many guns in circulation, and poor health care for the majority of the population, frankly I'm surprised its as high as 75.

[jerry]

Thailand is ranked number 1 now worldwide for deaths in motorbike accidents ... and they only count deads on the spot not the people who died in the ambulance or the day after in hospital to keep the number as low as possible ... 45% of these deaths are under twenty year olds . 

All this while in a country like Vietnam there are way more bikes but less deaths . Driving without a helmet in Nam will have your bike confiscated , might be a good start to bring the numbers down in Thailand . 

[Scumbag]

Another issue that a lot of them eat too much white rice. This can lead to the development of diabetes which leads to another issue. From what I have seen poor people tend to get poor treatment for the condition leading to them dying much younger than they should.

[just hanging]

for a farang with no money that has to go back to the west?  one jump/day

[Chiang mai Tony]

On 4/23/2014 at 0:24 AM, jocky king said:

Agreed with you 100%, Bangkok city is 100 times more modern than Dublin,

No its not .I agree though that i would not call Thailand 3 rd World .

[HTW]

Prob  low life expectancy due mostly to their driving skills,  or lack there of...

[tequilareef]

On 3/1/2016 at 17:52, lavista4u said:

Because, There are no Corporate Vultures aka Medical Mafia like in America, that parasites you into bankruptcy. 

 

You are made to be barely alive in the developed countries so that they can put you on drugs in elderly care homes and you die slowly, paying for their over prized drugs. 

 

 The MOST important Equation Created By Yours Truly. The First True ANALYSIS of LIVING LIFE KING SIZE is the NUMBER OF TRIPS YOU MAKE INTO HOSPITAL. 

 

A Thai has less number of visits on average in his life time to a hospital than first world countries PLUS he dies surrounded by his loved ones not in elderly care homes.

 

Even by spending billions on drugs, A first world guy barely extends his life by 5 to 10  years that too in misery, pain  & debt, while a Thai spends his life in QUALITY OVER QUANTITY for 75 years.

 

Its not the LIFE Expectancy a flawed statistics created by Big Drugs Mafia Its the NUMBER OF TRIPS TO A HOSPITAL that matters.

 

You should accept 50 years of HEALTHY LIFE than 90 Years of Life on Drugs.

 

   If life expectancy was the only equation in town. Farangs wouldn't do Visa Runs 

Bingo! Talk about reality in a nutshell!

After 9/11 the dominos quickly moved into place and a massive power shift took place right in front of everyone's eyes.

 

The USA is pretty much a Third World country with a big giant facades of bandages everywhere. Its arteries are terminal and it's major organs have been removed. The family structure or bloodstream is decayed. The country itself is not built to last, only it's monuments and temporary military might. Look to Europe and the old World for permanence. The only thing of value in the USA is parts of California, Texas, Florida, Virginia And New York along with a few important strategic facilities like Hoover Dam which amazingly (not) was not hit on 9/11. Speaking of which, follow the money:

Thailand was a complete and utter shit hole when I first landed in June 1989. Bangkok was rat infested and in a perpetual gridlock as the sky train laid half built for a decade. Much like the Philippines is today except it hasn't moved forward since 1989! Sad but true. Thailand has moved leaps and bounds from what it was almost 30 years ago. It used to take 4 hours to get to Pattaya.

These people are strong in nature and resilient. It's amazing they have moved this far forward in such a short period. It speaks volumes of their character and culture. Laugh all you want but this is fact and I would venture to say most of us would have never made it this far either eating a bullet or spending time in a bottle

The Thai health care system is unbelievably good for the amount of money people pay into it. It puts anything in the US & UK to shame and I've been to 10 different hospitals. I have Thai social welfare and my Father paid into it for 30 years. Myself only 9 years. 

My point is this, he ultimately died of liver cancer. The number of treatments, CT scans, and other medical expenses costs a grand total of 150 baht for 6 months. This would have been $500K USD minimum or insurance premiums bleeding one dry slowly so the elite bankers can be paid and Mr. JQ Public pays with his life savings and ultimately his own dying breath.

I watched my grandmother and her insurance blow through 1 million USD in that period of time and she didn't even have cancer! She paid an extra $500 a month for secondary health insurance which paid 100% of the remaining Medicare did not cover. As she would say, I wished I was dead 10 years ago as the last 10-15 years of her life was a living hell.

Is there something wrong with this picture? I came back to what I thought was my country for the first time in 1999 and was horrified by what I witnessed. It seemed everything moved backward as it did, much more than I and the World was soon to realize.

Welcome to the Machine!

PS - If you think the $50 bill is a joke look at the $10 and $20 bills before 9/11, then after. Then go back to 1776. It ties into everything in one way or another talked about in this thread. Go back further in history and be amazed.

[Not_Shameful]

Average life expectancy in Australia didn't reach 75 until 1983. In the US it was 1989.

In 1970 the life expectancy in Thailand was 58. They've done pretty well in less than 50 years to almost catch up with some first world countries. 

[tequilareef]

2 minutes ago, Not_Shameful said:

Average life expectancy in Australia didn't reach 75 until 1983. In the US it was 1989.

In 1970 the life expectancy in Thailand was 58. They've done pretty well in less than 50 years to almost catch up with some first world countries. 

Either that or the rest of the World has buried their heads in the sand. Never put much weight in those numbers myself in terms of accuracy but indicators of the nature of reality nonetheless. 

One would hope it would have increased comparatively. I would hate to see the real numbers now with the rate of suicides, undocumented missing people, and other abnormalities. 

[ocka]

No welfare state.

No OH&S

[simon46]

Firstly OP where do your figures come from?

There are many studies, some with political or national interest input.

Bet the study you have used has some pretty obvious slanting.

Is it historic or estimate.  Are factors like future medical advances, social changes like reduced smoking, helmet use  factored in?

Now as a UK subject I can remember when UK male LE ( females always and have always had a higher LE- they are better built)

hit 70, which was seen as near enough the best- of course the Japanese eating nothing but rice and a bit of fish, and the swedes were higher.

Now even Thailand is 75?

Having watched some old people die at the end the dying was a relief from the medical torture they could not refuse.

[Go With Me]

Im surprised its so high considering how unhealthy thai cuisine is. Far too much sugar, preservatives and salts. They all live off bottled sauces, sweet soy, oyster etc and they sniff on that peppermint up your nose thing which is full of nasties

[Explorer8939]

Apart from life expectancy is quality of life. A bar girl's daddy may still be alive at 60 years old, but will look 20 years older than her 60 year old customer.

[MrLek]

I am surprised it is as high as 75 given how they drive. I like the Thais very much but their driving is absolutely disgraceful. I hired a bike last trip to see the thing that will stay with me for a while. I got overtaken by a Thai mother on a scooter with two kids on it. One was only about 2. 2 kids on her bike she is overtaking me, left hand off the handlebars texting on her phone all 3 had no helmets. 

[Old Scratch]

Motorcycle accidents in Thailand will cut your life expectancy (and torso) in half.

[jed§]

On 6/1/2017 at 23:30, likeaking said:

Violence, drinking and smoking may  play a role in the difference between Thai males and females

There's a difference everywhere - maybe it's the same as your reason altho' it's hard to prove it. The reason could also be evolutionary and related to testosterone. Men might just not be designed to live longer than women. We're just not really needed that much once we get a lot older. 75 isn't bad for a developing country like Thailand - Korea (South), Japan and Taiwan are developed countries. Some parts of the UK have a lower life expectancy than Thailand, particularly the post industrialised cities and towns. Ardwick in Manchester has a life expectancy not much higher than sub Saharan Africa and many of the poorer parts of the US have similar rates as well as malnutrition. It's not pleasant being poor in modern Britain or the US. 

[jed§]

On 7/1/2018 at 08:08, simon46 said:

some old people die at the end the dying was a relief from the medical torture they could not refuse.

Yes, we do seem to be obsessed with keeping people alive for as long as possible, whilst ignoring their wishes and taking no account of their quality of life. A friend's grand mother aged 91 and full of aches, pains, just wanted to be left alone to die  - she said she'd had enough.

[DaffyDuck]

Firstly OP where do your figures come from?
There are many studies, some with political or national interest input.
Bet the study you have used has some pretty obvious slanting.

Seems there’s some tight-fitting tinfoil hats within this thread.

[Kahoy]

On 01/07/2018 at 10:03, ocka said:

No welfare state.

No OH&S

This.

Life expectancy is a function of 2 main factors. relative wealth and presence or absence of a universal health care system which provides preventative health care. This last fact is why the US is comparatively low in rank (31) despite having the most advanced health care in the world from a technical standpoint.