The National Center of Health Statistics and the United Nations released data for life expectancy on countries and states in the U.S. The country with the highest life expectancy is Japan–well over 84 years. Australia is almost tied with Japan. Then comes South Korea at 84 years. Spain, Italy, Canada, and France are all between 82 and 84. Taiwan, Germany, and Britain, with the socialized medicine Republicans are always mocking, all came in between 80 and 82. Hawaii is in that category as well.
Between 78 and 80 are a number of American states, including Idaho, which surprised me until I remembered that Idaho has a large percentage of Mormons who neither drink nor smoke and leave clean lives.
Pennsylvania is among the 22 states that have average life expectancies between 76 and 78, although I am sure that the industrialized medical care provided by the new Lehigh Valley Hospital and the St. Luke’s Hospital recently built within five miles of each other will boost the PA average to untold heights.
States between 74 and 72, along with Iran, Vietnam, Brazil, Peru, and Bangladesh, include Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The lowest state, with an average life expectancy below 72 years, is [drum roll here] Mississippi.
Here's a fun fact. Residents of Alabama have a low average life expectancy. When you break it down further, Asians in Alabama have an even lower life expectancy than Caucasians, Blacks, and Latinos. Why? Don't know; the article I read doesn't say.
ReplyDeleteMy wife--born and raised in Alabama--was open to the idea of moving out of state. But she ruled out California because of the earthquakes. There were other reasons, but that was the big one. Lately, when we revisit the idea, she is open to moving to California.
She's spent a lifetime here, and I've been here for over two decades. But we are seriously considering a move after the youngest is out of high school.