Education, Wealth and Life expectancy

Data indicate growing disparity in life expectancy between richer and poorer.

"New government research has found 'large and growing' disparities in life expectancy for richer and poorer Americans, paralleling the growth of income inequality in the last two decades." According to Gopal K. Singh, Ph.D., a demographer at the Department of Health and Human Services, "'the growing inequalities in life expectancy' mirrored trends in infant mortality and in death from heart disease and certain cancers." Although the government has made some efforts to reverse this trend, the gap between the wealthy and the poor continued to grow, such that "[b]y 1998-2000, the difference in life expectancy had increased to 4.5 years (79.2 versus 74.7 years)."

Indeed, "life expectancy was higher for the most affluent in 1980 than for the most deprived group in 2000," said Singh. Furthermore, "men in the most deprived counties had 10 years' shorter life expectancy than women in the most affluent counties (71.5 years versus 81.3 years)," while the "difference between poor black men and affluent white women was more than 14 years (66.9 years vs. 81.1 years)."

According to findings which will be broadcast in the next month on PBS, researchers have found that "contrary to popular belief, your health is not just the sum of your genes, your health habits, and the quality of your health insurance plan. Your income, education, and race matter; so does your address, your job title, and...the status your parents had when you were small."