Life Expectancy (years)
Life expectancy is a key indicator of health status worldwide. Both physical and mental disabilities influence life expectancy and while women in the United States generally have a longer life expectancy than men, women’s life expectancy in a large number of countries (including Australia, Canada, Greece, Japan, and Singapore) surpasses that of women in the U.S.1
What is the average life expectancy for women?
Women in Japan have the highest life expectancy (82.9 years in 1995), and the Report Card uses this benchmark to grade the states and the nation. [World Health Organization, United Nations and others, “Life expectancy at birth by gender, 1995, ”as cited in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November 2000.] Since the state life expectancy data which is measured against the benchmark have not been updated, the life expectancy benchmark has also not been updated, to allow for a fairer comparison.
| State | State Overall Data | State Grade | State Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama 3 | 77.6 | F | 46 |
| Alaska 3 | 78.6 | F | 30 |
| Arizona 3 | 79.6 | U | 21 |
| Arkansas 3 | 78.1 | F | 40 |
| California 3 | 79.2 | U | 25 |
| Colorado 3 | 80.0 | U | 9 |
| Connecticut 3 | 80.0 | U | 11 |
| Delaware 3 | 77.7 | F | 45 |
| District of Columbia 3 | 74.2 | F | 51 |
| Florida 3 | 79.6 | U | 20 |
| Georgia 3 | 77.5 | F | 47 |
| Hawaii 3 | 81.3 | S- | 1 |
| Idaho 3 | 79.9 | U | 12 |
| Illinois 3 | 78.3 | F | 36 |
| Indiana 3 | 78.6 | F | 29 |
| Iowa 3 | 80.5 | U | 5 |
| Kansas 3 | 80.0 | U | 10 |
| Kentucky 3 | 78.0 | F | 42 |
| Louisiana 3 | 76.9 | F | 50 |
| Maine 3 | 79.6 | U | 19 |
| Maryland 3 | 78.1 | F | 40 |
| Massachusetts 3 | 79.8 | U | 13 |
| Michigan 3 | 78.2 | F | 38 |
| Minnesota 3 | 80.9 | S- | 3 |
| Mississippi 3 | 77.1 | F | 49 |
| Missouri 3 | 78.8 | F | 27 |
| Montana 3 | 79.5 | U | 22 |
| Nebraska 3 | 80.2 | U | 7 |
| Nevada 3 | 77.8 | F | 44 |
| New Hampshire 3 | 79.8 | U | 14 |
| New Jersey 3 | 78.5 | F | 32 |
| New Mexico 3 | 79.3 | U | 23 |
| New York 4 | 78.3 | F | 35 |
| North Carolina 3 | 78.3 | F | 37 |
| North Dakota 3 | 81.0 | S- | 2 |
| Ohio 3 | 78.5 | F | 34 |
| Oklahoma 3 | 78.5 | F | 32 |
| Oregon 3 | 79.7 | U | 18 |
| Pennsylvania 3 | 78.7 | F | 28 |
| Rhode Island 3 | 79.8 | U | 14 |
| South Carolina 3 | 77.3 | F | 48 |
| South Dakota 3 | 80.8 | S- | 4 |
| Tennessee 3 | 78.2 | F | 39 |
| Texas 3 | 78.9 | F | 26 |
| Utah 3 | 80.4 | U | 6 |
| Vermont 3 | 79.7 | U | 17 |
| Virginia 3 | 78.6 | F | 31 |
| Washington 3 | 79.7 | U | 16 |
| West Virginia 3 | 77.9 | F | 43 |
| Wisconsin 3 | 80.0 | U | 8 |
| Wyoming 3 | 79.3 | U | 24 |
Data Source: Life Expectancy (years), 1989-1991.
EXPLANATION: This measure is women’s life expectancy at birth (in years) for 1989-1991. The life tables (in the NCHS report, as explained below) are current life tables based on age-specific death rates for the period 1989-1991. With the exception of those age 95 and older, the death rates were calculated using state data from the 1990 Census for the years 1989-1991 and were based on residency at the time of death. Because state life tables are not currently produced on an annual basis, the decennial life tables are the only source of state life expectancy data available at the National Center for Health Statistics. Although more recent data at the national level are available, the Report Card uses national level data that are consistent with the data years available at the state level. The updated national figure is 80.4 years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Table 7. Life expectancy at selected ages by race and sex: United States, 2007," in Deaths: Final Data for 2007, National Vital Statistics Report Vol. 58, No.19 (May 2010), available at ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Publications/Provisional/nv...
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Decennial Life Tables for 1989-1991 Vol. II, State Life Tables, Alabama No. 1 (Hyattsville: National Center for Health Statistics, 1998), 4.
Footnotes
1 LB Shrestha, Congressional Research Service, Life Expectancy in the United States, (Washington: Congressional Research Service, August 2006), available at http://aging.senate.gov/crs/aging1.pdf
