If you want to live the longer life, you would do well to move to the Aloha state. Hawaii residents have a longer life expectancy than any other American state, according to a recent study by the Harvard University Global Health Initiative and the Harvard School of Public Health. At the other end of the scale, you could expect to live eight years shorter if you lived in the District of Columbia.
The study concluded that Hawaii’s number one ranking was due in part to its small size and population. The average Hawaiian resident can expect to live 80 years, and Hawaiian women live even longer “than in any other state, in fact” at an average of 83.2 years.
Mild climate is not a longevity factor
In case you are getting ahead of the statistics and have decided that a temperate climate is the main factor in longevity, you will be surprised to learn that the number two state, when it comes to life expectancy, was Minnesota, where the The average person can expect to live 78.2 years. In fact, white citizens of the Midwest as a whole, which also includes North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota, have a life expectancy greater than 98% of the rest of the white population in the United States: 76.2 years for men. and 81.8 for women.
However, the Midwest did not have a longevity lock, because the study found that Utah ranked third, at 78.7 years. Morgan and Summit counties led the way, each averaging 80.8 years.
Southern states
Residents of the south are not doing as well, as the study found that the bottom four states were located below the Mason-Dixon line. Washington, DC ranked 51st, with its citizens averaging just 72 years of life. Next to last on the list was Mississippi, making it the lowest of the fifty states in life expectancy, at 73.6 years. Coahoma County, Mississippi, ranked 11th from the bottom in the entire United States with an average of just 70.1. With an average life expectancy of 74.2 years, Louisiana ranked third from the bottom, followed by Alabama (74.4) and South Carolina (74.8).
In a somewhat surprising conclusion after looking at all fifty U.S. states and the District of Columbia, researchers found that the life expectancy of Americans is less influenced than might be expected by factors such as personal income, a inadequate health insurance or violence and more factors such as chronic illness or injury.