How Much Americans Spend On Unhealthy Things?

America is the land of free. You can do anything you want as long as you do not cross any legal obligations here. This country gives you the freedom to be you. It does not bound anyone from doing what they want. The average GDP per capita income of this country is 63,051 USD. Do you know it is approximately five times more than the average per capita income of the world-leading economy China which is 10,839 USD? However, the world is not very positive about Americans spending their money. It is one of the highest paying countries in the world, at the same time, consumer expenditure is the highest as well. In short, the money given to the people is brought back to the economy in wise ways. Moreover, the American manufacturing sectors use general sales tax (GST) techniques more than value-added tax (VAT).

The reason for it is that the consumptions of finished goods and Fast Moving Consumer Goods is high and businesses can pay more tax to the states. Taking this into consideration, an average household spends an average of $7303 on food annually to eat. Consumers develop 70% of the U.S economy. According to the records of 2020, consumer expenditure was $14.5 trillion. However, the rest of the income is not spent in the right ways. America spends extra money on unhealthy things which further leads to incurable diseases. Though it is one of the most progressive nations of the world, there are things that are going wrong on a wide scale. If you want to know more about the spending habits and amounts of Americans on unhealthy habits, then continue reading this blog.

1. High Intake of Alcohol

Americans spend a high amount of money on Alcohol. It has become more of a trend that has now been embedded in the culture. From parties to formal gatherings, you will see all forms of alcohol from beers to whiskeys to whatnot. According to the 2018 report of Statista, the per capita alcohol consumption in America is 2.35 gallons. Nonetheless, beer tops the records, and overall, 20 million gallons of beer were consumed over the course of one year. The story doesn’t end on consumption only. The after-effects or let’s say the side effects of alcohol addiction are contagious.

t causes human lungs to run out of breath and eventually life. Other major diseases like multiple types of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and liver cirrhosis are common in Americans. Statista further reports that the cost only for the consumption of alcohol was more than 27 billion USD a year. The numbers are only going to grow if there is no proper action taken in this regard. Alcohol is cutting the roots, nonetheless, according to another Statista report, the overall alcoholic beverages sales in the US has reached nearly $253 billion in 2019.

2. Use of Multiple Tobacco Products

The next major unhealthy habit is the usage of tobacco products in multiple ways. According to Statista, the number of current tobacco smokers in the United States is 37.8 billion people. Out of which, men are more likely to spend money with a percentage of 77% share. Whereas, women still only hold a share of 13%. And since no unhealthy habit is cheap, smoking tobacco costs more than 300 billion USD. The tobacco industry is making huge revenues with the average per capita revenue being 296.66 USD. However, the struggle of people to quit smoking is continued, a good number of smokers, want to quit it for health reasons. Nonetheless, the division on the basis of three major tobacco-containing products is this.

–          Cigarettes

Cigarettes are the highest consumed tobacco product around the globe. However, America is one of the leading countries in the list of cigarette smoking. There are around 267 billion cigarettes consumed each year by Americans with a per capita ratio of 1078 cigarettes. To your surprise, Americans spend more than 200 billion on cigarettes. The consumption of cigarettes is high mainly because of the stress level rising in the young generation. There are people who claim that their immune system is strong and that nothing can challenge it. However, the truth is if you keep pouring in contagious chemicals like Nicotine in your body, your immune system will eventually be weakened and will stop producing antibodies.

–          Shisha Hookah

People assume that shisha is a safer tobacco option that can satisfy their need for Nicotine dose without any health issues. However, the strange fact about shisha is that it is even more harmful than cigarettes. It is because there are no filters attached to it when you inhale that whopping puff of Nicotine in your mouth. The spread of infections and viruses is also common because every person in the gathering uses the same pipe to feel the flavor. Today, America spends 2311.8 million USD on shisha. The amount is supposed to reach at 4503 million USD by 2026.

3. The Never-Ending Love for Fast Food

The love of Americans for fast food is unmeasurable. They spend millions of dollars on the consumption of multiple food products, some of them are healthy, whereas most of them are unhealthy like fast food. It is reported that 1 out of every 4^th individual spends money on fast food and other junk items such as burgers and fried items. According to The Simple Dollar, an individual spends around $9 on food away from home. This makes a total of $263 monthly and an average of $3154 spending on fast food. People believe that fast food is helping them save time so that they can make extra money. However, the reality is that fast food companies and brands have made it more of an addiction to customers. They are for sure saving consumer’s time, however, the extra money you are making by saving time is spent on curing health issues caused by fast food. This is the list of diseases that can be an outcome of eating junk/fast food.

• Obesity: every other person in the States is dealing with obesity. This is because they focus less on health and continue to grow unhealthy eating habits. Obesity can eventually cause death after a roller coaster ride of multiple other diseases.
• Digestive problems: Fast food makes your digestive system upset. It not does allow proper digestion and release of the waste products from your body, leaving you with other diseases.
• Depression: One major cause of depression is the improper digestion of food in the body. Hence, you encounter depression because of fast food.
• Heart diseases: Fast food can pile up fat in your body until it is a plethora that blocks the way of arteries and eventually causes your arteries to stop functioning, resulting in major heart attacks or strokes. The fat also causes high blood pressure (a major reason for heart attacks).
• Diabetes: Every fast food product contains a good or in fact high amount of sugar in it. Be it the burger patty or that bun you thought was healthy. Imagine all of the sugar piling up in your body and one day you are diagnosed with diabetes. Yes, this is what fast food does to your body. It does not matter how strong your immune system is, if you push its limits, it will stop its functioning.

4. The High Consumption of Caffeine

“Are you even American if you do not drink coffee?”, This is the reaction you get when you say you are not a coffee person. The addiction to coffee has become of the worst issues for Americans today. They cannot function properly if by chance they miss that hot, steamy, morning coffee. According to Statista, the coffee industry makes revenues of $80 billion every year. This means, that Americans do not mind spending this huge amount on coffee at all. An average American drinks 1.87 cups of coffee every day. Caffeine addiction is leading ways for multiple deadly diseases. Nonetheless, Statista also reports that the United States amounted to nearly 27.16 million bags of coffee in 2020. Though caffeine is not alcohol it does not make it any less harmful to the human body.

Concluding Words

These are the four major unhealthy habits America faces right now. It is clear that anything in excessive amounts can cause damage. Americans go a step extra every time it comes to unhealthy eating or drinking habits.