Life Expectancy Hits Record High in United States

Government data released yesterday show Americans' life expectancy hit a record high in 2006, with ethnic and gender disparities narrowing. Death rates for many diseases went down, and AIDS mortality marked its 10th straight year of decline. Overall US life expectancy of 78.1 years was up 0.3 years from 2005. Life expectancy was 80.7 years for women and 75.4 years for men. The disparity between the sexes -- 5.3 years -- has been falling after peaking at eight years in 1979. White women had a life expectancy of 81 years, followed by black women (76.9 years), white men (76 years) and black men (70 years). The gap between men and women is significantly larger among blacks (6.9 years) than in whites (five years). For Hispanics, the overall mortality rate in 2006 was 550 deaths per 100,000 people. For non-Hispanic whites, it was 778. For non-Hispanic blacks, it was 1,001. This was a surprise since average income and education among Hispanics (except for Cuban Americans) is below that of whites, and these two variables strongly predict health and mortality.

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