Life Trajectory Graph: How Much Of Your Life Is Lost To Drugs And Other Leading Causes Of Death?

As an American, you probably have only 78.7 years to live, so what do you do with them?

Before you make any hasty decisions, check out Withdrawal.net, which has created an interactive graph comparing the leading causes of death -- both natural and unnatural -- and the average age of people who died from them. It probably comes as no surprise that drugs and alcohol will take not years but decades off a life.

Based on the most recent report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an American can expect to live for 78.7 years. Switzerland has the longest life expectancy, 82.8 years, followed by Japan (82.7 years), Italy (82.7 years), Spain (82.4 years) and Iceland (82.4 years).

In the graph, Withdrawal.net examined drug-related deaths, based on data collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average age of people who died from overdose is 38.7. "Considering that 38,921 Americans die annually due to such deaths, this amounts to 40 x 38,921 = 1.557 million years of American life lost annually due to such overdoses," said Withdrawl.net on its website. For drug-related deaths, benzodiazepines, tranquilizers such as Valium and Xanax, account for the earliest average age at death, followed by alcohol poisoning. Firearm homicides has the earliest average age at death after benzodiazepines.

The graph also highlights a few trends associated with some common causes of death. Prostate cancer patients can expect to live relatively full lives, due to the slow nature of the disease and the age which it is generally detected. For prostate cancer patients, 98.9 percent survive five years or longer and the median age at diagnosis is 66, reports the National Cancer Institute.