WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A major new study led by Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) revealed big differences in how long people live depending on which U.S. state they are from.
Published in JAMA Network Open, the study highlighted how state policies, living conditions, and the environment have played a key role in shaping Americans' life spans over the past 100 years.
Researchers looked at over 179 million deaths from 1969 to 2020, tracking life expectancy trends by birth year. This method gives a clearer picture of how people's lives have changed over time compared to just looking at death rates year by year.
The team included experts from Yale, the University of Michigan, and the University of British Columbia, showing the broad scope of the research.
The study found that between 1900 and 2000, people in Northeastern and Western states like New York, California, and Washington, D.C., saw big improvements in life expectancy. For example, women in New York and California lived more than 20 years longer by the end of the century.
'That's a staggering contrast,' said the study's lead author, Dr. Theodore Holford. 'Where you are born shouldn't determine how long you live. But in America, it still does.'
However, in Southern states such as Mississippi, Alabama, and Kentucky, gains were much smaller as women there lived less than three years longer over the same period.
The study further found that state policies made a big difference. States that acted early with laws like tobacco control and expanded healthcare access helped their people live longer, healthier lives.
'These trends in mortality and life expectancy reflect not only each state's policy environment, but also their underlying demographics as well,' said Dr. Jamie Tam, an assistant professor of health policy and management at YSPH and a study co-author. 'It's not surprising that states with fewer improvements to life expectancy also have higher rates of poverty, for example.'
Notably, the gap is more noticeable among men born after 1950 in many Southern states, where life expectancy hardly improved by less than two years. Meanwhile, places like Hawaii and Massachusetts stayed at the top for both men and women.
'The disparities we see today are the result of decades of cumulative effects,' Holford emphasized. 'Without conscious policy changes, these gaps will likely persist or even widen.'
The study suggested targeted steps like stronger tobacco control, better healthcare, and environmental protections. The researchers hope their findings will encourage policy changes to help future generations live longer, healthier lives.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
