Life expectancy has risen across the world in recent decades, but the United States has fallen behind other high-income countries and the gap has widened. Much of the difference comes from deaths that are rarer elsewhere: drug overdoses, firearm injuries, car crashes, and heart disease and diabetes linked to obesity. Health spending in the US is among the highest in the world, yet outcomes are weaker, pointing to how care is delivered and who can access it. The shortfall is not only among the poor, since Americans with higher incomes also tend to live shorter lives than their peers abroad.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.