Life expectancy rates have not been stagnant in the U.S.
According to data from the World Bank and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development compiled by Atlanta-based insurance agency Simply Insurance, the nation’s life expectancy has risen by 8.7 years since 1960.
Yet as is the case with many facets of life, there are some disparities when it comes to people who are affluent and people who have low-income.
Using pay data from a 2016 study that analyzed the link between income and life expectancy in the U.S., along with data from Vox, Simply Insurance unveiled a visualization displaying the steady lifespan incongruity between people who have high and low-incomes in every state.
“The Chetty study linked 1.4 billion tax returns to the Social Security Administration from all over the US, measuring mortality data. This data shows that, even now, each step you climb on the income ladder will consistently have a significant impact on your overall health and lifespan,” the agency said.
Credit: Simply Insurance
Credit: Simply Insurance
Among the key takeaways from these statistics are that the higher up you are on the income ladder, the more consistently years are added to your life. Additionally, Washington, D.C. has the biggest discrepancy with a 10-year life expectancy gap between wealthy people and people who have low income. That’s followed by a nine-year gap in Georgia, South Carolina, Indiana, Kansas, Delaware and Michigan and a six-year gap in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey and New York.
In Georgia, the most impoverished 25% have a life expectancy of 78-years-old. The wealthiest 25% have a life expectancy of 87.
This data isn’t new.
In the 1800s, a surge erupted in medical innovations only accessible to those with very high income. From 1850 to 1874, a 20-year gap existed between the average lifespan of wealthy people and those in the general population.
“The irony is that this gap isn’t too different from the one present in D.C. today,” Simply Insurance noted.
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