Regions of long-livers: which states have the highest life expectancy

As for life expectancy, it is not the same in all states. The National Center for Health Statistics released a report that shows life expectancy for all 50 states and the District of Columbia for 2018. Writes about it Yahoo!

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The average life expectancy in the United States as a whole was 78,7 years, with 76,2 years for men and 81,2 years for women.

But the numbers varied greatly when it came to individual states. As in previous years, Hawaii ranked first in life expectancy at 81 years, followed by California at 80,8 years, New York and Minnesota at 80,5 years, and Connecticut at 80,4 years. West Virginia ranked lowest at 74,4 years, followed by Mississippi at 74,6 years, Alabama at 75,1 years and Kentucky at 75,3 years.

Eileen Crimmins, professor at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California and co-director of the Center for Biodemography and Public Health, believes life expectancy is an important metric.

“It’s basically an overall health indicator,” Crimmins said. She explains that there are many factors contributing to the improved health in some states. Financial well-being, good nutrition, more frequent exercise and access to health care.

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In particular, healthcare is an important factor.

“States that provide access to Obamacare and have accepted the federal government's surcharge to cover the uninsured have benefited from this,” Crimmins says. “The states that haven't taken these steps tend to be in the South, a lot of them are Republican, they just didn't take the money, and so they still have a lot of uninsured populations, which is what creates the effect because people don't go to doctors."

Indeed, the eight states with the lowest life expectancy in 2018 are located in the south, and they are all red. Jennifer Ayleshire, professor and researcher at the Center for Biodemography and Population Health, agrees that healthcare is the driving force behind low life expectancy in the region.

“There are many factors that determine the health of a population, but the fact that these states consistently rank last in the country really reflects their lack of investment in public health,” she says.

Other factors that can reduce life expectancy in these states are guns, mortality, suicide, chronic disease and drug overdoses.

Crimmins explains that life expectancy suffers the most when death takes people at a young age.

“If a child dies at one year old, and the average life expectancy is 80 years, that means 79 years of life remain lost,” explains the professor. “Whereas a person who died at 79 years old lost only one year.”

Ayleshire confirms that this is one of the reasons West Virginia consistently ranks last.

“This is primarily driven by relatively higher death rates from cardiovascular disease, cancer and stroke, but West Virginia also has the highest drug overdose death rate,” the researcher noted. “They also have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country, and this is an important factor in life expectancy calculations.”

West Virginia has long been known as the epicenter of the opioid crisis, an epidemic that claimed more than 60 deaths in 000 alone.

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“Opioid deaths have a big impact on life expectancy because they tend to be people in their twenties and thirties,” Crimmins says. “And high infant mortality, which is a sign of very poor health, and high maternal mortality, and high mortality from violence - all of these will be things that will lower the state's ranking.”

So what is Hawaii doing, which all the time ranks first.

“Hawaii has been ranked number one in life expectancy for several years now,” states Ailshire. “This largely reflects their lower mortality rates from underlying causes such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.”

“Hawaii has good access to health care because it has a fairly centralized system,” Crimmins explains. — Native Hawaiians often have diabetes, but Hawaii is full of people of different races and ethnicities. Many of them with Asian ancestry tend to have better health and probably better nutrition. People exercise and it relaxes them and reduces stress.”

Since this data only refers to 2018, it remains to be seen what impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on life expectancy in the United States. Ayleshire predicts that some states may change their place in the ranking, but not drastically.

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“It is clear that deaths from COVID-19 will have a huge impact on life expectancy in 2020,” Ailshire suggests. “But the same factors that drive health variability across U.S. states will drive differences among states in the impact of COVID-19 on their residents. So I suspect the ratings may change a little, but I don't expect any major changes."

Ranking of states by life expectancy in years:

1. Hawaii - 81,0
2. California - 80,8
3. New York - 80,5
4. Minnesota - 80,5
5. Connecticut - 80,4
6. Massachusetts - 80,1
7. Washington - 80,0
8. Colorado - 80,0
9. New Jersey - 79,8
10. Rhode Island - 79,8
11. Oregon - 79,7
12. Utah - 79,6
13. Vermont - 79,3
14. North Dakota - 79,3
15. Wisconsin - 79,3
16. Iowa - 79,2
17. New Hampshire - 79,1
18. Nebraska - 79,1
19. Idaho - 79,0
20. Virginia - 79,0
21. South Dakota - 78,9
22. Florida - 78,9
23. Illinois - 78,8
24. Montana - 78,7
25. Arizona - 78,7
26. Maine - 78,6
27. Maryland - 78,5
28. Texas - 78,4
29. Pennsylvania - 78,1
30. Wyoming - 78,1
31. Kansas - 78,0
32. Alaska - 78,0
33. Nevada - 77,9
34. Delaware - 77,8
35. Michigan - 77,7
36. District of Columbia - 77,7
37. North Carolina - 77,6
38. Georgia - 77,2
39. New Mexico - 77,2
40. Indiana - 76,8
41. Ohio - 76,8
42. Missouri - 76,6
43. South Carolina - 76,5
44. Arkansas - 75,6
45. Oklahoma - 75,6
46. ​​Louisiana - 75,6
47. Tennessee - 75,5
48. Kentucky - 75,3
49. Alabama - 75,1
50. Mississippi - 74,6
51. West Virginia - 74,4

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