In a nation that prides itself on progress and prosperity, Americans are living in starkly different health realities. A groundbreaking analysis reveals that depending on where you live and your racial identity, your life span could vary by more than two decades – a gap that has grown increasingly wider over the past 20 years.
Published in The Lancet | Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
The story of American health is no longer one narrative but ten distinct chapters, according to researchers who have mapped out what they call “The Ten Americas.” Their findings paint a troubling picture of how deeply embedded racial and geographic health disparities have become in the fabric of American society.
Asian Americans can expect to live to 84 years old – a life expectancy that rivals the world’s healthiest nations. Yet, in a parallel America, American Indian and Alaska Native people in Western states face a drastically different reality, with life expectancy plummeting to just 63.6 years – a gap that spans more than two decades.
“These aren’t just numbers on a page,” notes Professor Christopher JL Murray, the study’s senior author. “They represent millions of Americans whose lives are cut short not by fate, but by systemic inequities that we as a society have allowed to persist and grow.”
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t create these disparities – it exposed and amplified them. When the virus struck, it found fertile ground in communities already struggling with limited healthcare access, economic instability, and educational barriers. The result? While some communities saw life expectancy drop by about a year, others watched as half a decade of life expectancy vanished in mere months.
Perhaps most alarming is the story of American Indian and Alaska Native communities in the West. They stand alone as the only group whose life expectancy was declining even before the pandemic, falling from 72.3 years in 2000 to 70.2 years by 2019. When COVID-19 arrived, it delivered another devastating blow, slashing an additional 6.6 years from their life expectancy.
The research reveals that education and income play crucial roles in these disparities – but they don’t tell the whole story. Some groups with high education levels and incomes still show surprisingly lower life expectancies, suggesting that other factors – from healthcare access to systemic barriers – are at play in determining how long Americans live.
Glossary
- Life Expectancy
- A statistical measure of the average time a person is expected to live, based on current mortality rates.
- Health Disparity
- Preventable differences in health outcomes between different population groups, often related to social, economic, or environmental disadvantages.
- Residential Segregation
- The physical separation of racial or ethnic groups in communities, often resulting from historical policies and continuing social practices.
Test Your Understanding
Which population group experienced the largest drop in life expectancy during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic?
American Indian and Alaska Native people living in the West experienced a 6.6-year drop in life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, the largest decline among all groups studied.
What was the life expectancy gap between the highest and lowest groups in 2021?
The gap reached 20.4 years in 2021, with Asian Americans living to 84.0 years on average, while American Indian and Alaska Native people in the West lived to 63.6 years.
How did Black Americans’ life expectancy trend change over the study period?
Black Americans showed significant gains in life expectancy between 2000-2010, narrowing the gap with White Americans by the mid-2010s, but these improvements stalled in the following decade and were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why don’t income and education levels fully explain the life expectancy disparities?
Some groups with high income and education levels still showed lower life expectancy than expected, suggesting other factors like healthcare access and systemic barriers play important roles in longevity.
