How long you might live based on where you're born, mapped
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Life expectancy at birth in Arkansas was 72.5 years — or 45th in the nation, a new study finds.
State of play: Life expectancy varies by nearly 10 years among the states.
By the numbers: Hawai'i (79.9 years), Massachusetts (79.6) and Connecticut (79.2) have the longest life expectancy at birth as of 2021, per a new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Mississippi (70.9 years), West Virginia (71.0) and Alabama (72.0) have the shortest.
- Neighboring Oklahoma ranks 44th (72.7 years), and Tennessee is 46th (72.4 years).
Between the lines: Women are expected to live longer than men across the country.
- The gender gap varies from 3.9 years (in Utah) to as much as 7.6 years (in New Mexico).
The big picture: Life expectancy nationwide fell by 0.6 years between 2020 and 2021, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and drug overdoses, per the report.
How it works: The findings are based on mortality statistics, along with Census and Medicare data.
The bottom line: With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly behind us, these numbers will likely improve in future reports — as earlier preliminary data suggests.
- Still, both COVID and drug overdoses remain serious public health challenges.
🌺 Worth's thought bubble: You can't be reborn in Hawai'i, and if you can't afford to move there, you can occasionally adopt the mindset with an Aloha shirt.