Mortality |
| A Century of Progress in U.S. Infant and Child Survival |
| From the standpoint of American parents, the best news of the 20th century was the steady, long-term decline in the risk of death for infants and children. (AmeriStat, December 2002) |
| |
| Americans Are Living Longer Than Ever |
| Between 1900 and 2000, life expectancy in the United States increased from 51 to 80 for females and from 48 to 74 for males. Most of the improvements in life expectancy have resulted from reductions in infectious diseases among infants and children. (AmeriStat, December 2002) |
| |
| Healthy Places in the United States |
| The healthiest place to live in the U.S., judging from death rates that take into account the age distribution of the population, is the state of Hawaii. (AmeriStat, December 2002) |
| |
| How Much Better Can It Get? |
| The U.S. Census Bureau's middle series projects life expectancies of 87 years for females and 81 years for men in 2050. Some analysts believe that life expectancy in the United States and other rich nations is approaching a biological limit. No slowdown is apparent yet, however, even in countries with life expectancies well above those in the United States. (AmeriStat, December 2002) |
| |
| Racial and Ethnic Differences in U.S. Mortality |
| Except at the very oldest ages, black Americans have the highest death rates of any of America's racial and ethnic groups. (AmeriStat, December 2002) |
| |
| The Gender Gap in U.S. Mortality |
| Mortality rates in the U.S. improved for both women and men in the second half of the 20th century. But these rates improved more rapidly for women than for men, so that until recently, the gender gap in life expectancy increased. (AmeriStat, December 2002) |
| |
| U.S. Mortality Risk for Select Causes of Death |
| In 2000, there were about 2.4 million deaths in the United States. Heart disease and cancer accounted for over half of these deaths, mostly at older ages. In 2000, African American adults were more likely to die from accidents, homicide, and HIV compared with either whites or Hispanics. (AmeriStat, December 2002) |
| |
| U.S. Trends in Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke |
| Deaths from heart disease and stroke have fallen dramatically over the past 50 years in the United States. While deaths from heart disease and stroke have declined, cancer deaths have remained relatively constant since 1950. (AmeriStat, December 2002) |
| |
| Higher Education Means Lower Mortality Rates |
| Mortality rates for Americans ages 25 to 64 who have attended college are less than half the rates for those who stopped education after completing high school. (AmeriStat, August 2002) |
| |
| |
