I like your use of facts and figures, but I do have a few problems with the info below.
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Originally Posted by Praxus
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Total New Cases of Cancer in Europe (EU): 1,534,700
Total Deaths Caused by Cancer per year: 962,600[/quote]
The population of the European Union (approximately 450 million people) is larger than the population of the U.S. (297,700,000 estimated for 2005). So, of course the European Union will have more cases of cancer. I used a calculator to find the proportions of new cases of cancer for both populations. This is what I found:
The total new cases of cancer in the US amount to about
.46% of the total population. The total deaths caused by cancer amount to about
.19% of the total population.
The total new cases of cancer in the EU amount to about
.34% of the total population. The total deaths caused by cancer amount to about
.21%
From this information we can draw a few conclusions. The EU has proportionall less cases of cancer. However, a cancer patient in the U.S. is more likely to survive. A U.S. cancer patient is about 1.1 times, not 1.5, more likely to survive than his European counterpart.
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Originally Posted by Praxus
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Again, I used simple division to find what fraction of the total population of the EU and America these two figures represented. I found the following:
The total number of heart attacks in the USA represent about
.4035 of the total population. The total deaths caused by heart attacks represent about
.16% of the total population.
The total number of heart attacks in the EU represent about
.422% of the total population. Unfortunately, your post didn't give the amount of EU heart attack deaths. I'll look for this number and get back to you.
You'll notice that I had to drag the two heart attack percentages out to three decimal points because they were so close. Indeed, although the EU has more heart attacks numerically, it is almost tied with the U.S. for proportional heart attacks.
It seems that the health disparity between the EU and US is fairly small, since it is proportions that give us the best indications of reality in this scenario.