Check out the homebuilding subreddit. The amount of "bad" stuff that ends up under the surface of nice drywal is, in fact, _just fine_, is quite high! Here's a recent example: https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebuilding/comments/1mjxqin/is_th...
There's nothing wrong with wooden houses! They're a cost-effective method of building, and with proper care, such houses will last over a hundred years. Masonry buildings, of course, also need care to avoid falling apart, though probably less so than wooden buildings.
I don't know where it is that you're from, but I'd wager that large parts of the US sees harsher climate conditions. Between hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and wildfires, American houses have to deal with a lot. Properly-constructed wooden houses handle what they need to.
Sure, you could say that all else equal, a masonry structure is more durable than a wooden one. But as they say, anyone can build a bridge that stands, but only an engineer can build a bridge that barely stands. Cost is always an object in the real world.