The US states where people die earlier than in Palestine and Syria
A new map based on official data reveals the shockingly low life expectancy of Americans.
Life expectancy in the United States is now just over 76 years, far lower than in any other G7 country – and even lower than in countries like China and Colombia.
A breakdown by US state reveals an even bleaker picture.
In Mississippi, the state with the lowest life expectancy, people live to an average age of only 70.
That is younger than the average citizen in Syria (72 years), Iran (74 years) and Palestine (73.5 years) – according to the University of Oxford’s “Our World in Data” dashboard.
The map above shows life expectancy by state in the USA
And this graph shows how the average life expectancy from birth in the country has changed from year to year.
The life expectancy of residents of West Virginia (71 years) and Alabama (72 years) was also lower than that of residents of the three Middle Eastern countries.
The last five places were occupied by Louisiana with 72.2 years and Kentucky with 72.3 years.
The state with the longest life expectancy, however, was Hawaii, whose residents can expect an average life expectancy of almost 80 years.
Health-conscious northern states such as Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, where people live to be close to 80, also made the top ten.
The data, released today by the CDC, estimates the life expectancy of babies born in 2021, the latest date available.
Nationally, the 2021 downturn has been largely attributed to the Covid pandemic and the rise in fentanyl overdose deaths – a crisis unique to the United States.
Some experts also blame a higher gun crime rate compared to other countries: 32 percent of all Americans own a gun.
And there is an increased incidence of chronic diseases such as obesity, which increase the risk of a variety of life-shortening diseases later in life, including heart disease and high blood pressure.
Experts blame expensive healthcare, people without insurance and a rise in chronic diseases for the country’s declining life expectancy (Share)
Demographic expert Bradley Schurman, author of The Super Age: Decoding our Demographic Destiny, told DailyMail.com that a “fairly complex web of factors” has led to the gap between life expectancy in the North and the South.
“There are probably more reasons than I could list, but in general there is less social protection in the South than in the North, so it is harder to get access to health care, for example. Obesity rates are also higher.”
“In addition, the distances people have to travel to receive healthcare, for example, can be much greater.
“If any of us, you or I, had a medical emergency right now in New York or DC, I can guarantee you it would take 20 minutes from the call to being delivered to the hospital, maybe less.
“But in some rural areas it could take more than two hours – a dramatic difference.”
He also said that higher gun ownership rates in the South and depopulation, which has led to the closure of many hospitals in rural areas, were other factors.
Official data showed that between 2020 and 2021, life expectancy fell in almost all states – namely 39 out of 50.
Alaska recorded the largest decline, with a 2.1 percent drop in life expectancy, followed by West Virginia with a 1.8 percent decline and New Mexico with a 1.5 percent decline.
At the other end of the scale, New Jersey recorded the largest increase in life expectancy with an increase of 1.5 percent, along with New York with an increase of 1.3 percent.
In 2021, about 460,000 people died of Covid in the United States as the country was swept by new, more contagious variants, reducing life expectancy in many states.
But in 2022, as vaccines were rolled out, that number fell to 244,000, and in 2023 it was less than 100,000.
At the same time, there has been a sharp increase in deaths from opioid addiction in some US states.
In 2021, there were 106,700 deaths from drug overdoses, 10 percent more than the previous year (92,000). Since then, the numbers have remained stable.
| Condition | Life expectancy at birth (years) | % change in one year |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii Massachusetts Connecticut new York New Jersey Minnesota New Hampshire Rhode Island Vermont California Washington Utah Nebraska Wisconsin Colorado Iowa North Dakota Oregon Maryland Idaho Illinois Virginia Maine South Dakota Pennsylvania United States Delaware Florida Kansas Montana Michigan Texas District of Columbia Nevada Arizona Wyoming North Carolina Missouri Indiana Alaska Ohio Georgia South Carolina New Mexico Oklahoma Arkansas Tennessee Kentucky Louisiana Alabama, West Virginia, Mississippi |
79.9 79.6 79.2 79 79 78.8 78.5 78.5 78.4 78.3 78.2 78.2 77.8 77.8 77.7 77.7 77.6 77.4 77.2 77.2 77.1 76.8 76.7 76.6 76.4 76.4 76.3 76.1 76 75.8 75.7 75.4 75.3 75.1 75 75 74.9 74.6 74.6 74.5 74.5 74.3 73.5 73 72.7 72.5 72.4 72.3 72.2 727170.9 |
-0.8% +0.6% +0.8% +1.3% +1.5% -0.3% -0.5% +0.3% -0.4% -0.7% -1% -0.4% +0.1% +0.1% -0.6% +0.2% +0.7% -1.4% +0.4% -1.2% +0.3% -0.8% -1.1% -0.1% -0.4% -0.6% -0.4% -1.4% -0.4% -1% -0.3% -1.1% 0% -1.2% -1.3% -1.3% -1.2% -0.5% -0.4% -2.1% -0.8% -1.3% -1.3% -1.5% -1.4% -1.3% -1.4% -1.2% -0.9% -1.2%-1.8%-1% |
