Washington: According to a media report, the US dropped off many industrialized countries in life expectancy standings, even though Americans are living longer than ever.

The report stated that forty one countries have overstepped the US that comprises not only Japan and several in Europe but also Jordan, Guam and the Cayman islands.

Dr. Christopher Murray, Head of the Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington alleged, “Something’s wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries.”

The international figures presented by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National centre for Health Statistics suggested that a child born in the US in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. Presently the life expectancy rate stood 42nd, which is down from 11th two decades earlier.

Andorra, which is a small country in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain, experienced the highest life expectancy rate, at 83.5 years that is being followed by Japan, Macau, San Marino and Singapore.

The shortest life expectancies were bunched up in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan is a region that has been hit hard by HIV and AIDS epidemic, plus food shortage and civil trouble. Swaziland has the least life expectancy, at 34.1 years, followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe.