Health in the United States

Abstract: Trends in health status, health services and health care expenditures in the United States are presented in chart form with supplementary comments. Selected data are categorized by sex and color, and cover such areas as life expectancy, infant mortality rates, people who smoke, utilization of hospitals and doctors, and causes of cost increase. For example, health care now consumes 9.1% of the GNP as compared to 4.5% in 1950; most of those costs were due not to population growth but to an increase in quantity and quality of service.