Where you live can decide how long you live

Differences are so extreme it's as if there are ‘eight Americas,’ report says-Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Where you live, combined with race and income, plays a huge role in the nation's health disparities, differences so stark that a report issued Monday contends it's as if there are eight separate Americas instead of one. Murray analyzed mortality data between 1982 and 2001 by county, race, gender and income. He found some distinct groupings that he named the "eight Americas:"

-Asian-Americans, average per capita income of $21,566, have a life expectancy of 84.9 years.
-Northland low-income rural whites, $17,758, 79 years.
-Middle America (mostly white), $24,640, 77.9 years.
-Low income whites in Appalachia, Mississippi Valley, $16,390, 75 years.
-Western American Indians, $10,029, 72.7 years.
-Black Middle America, $15,412, 72.9 years.
-Southern low-income rural blacks, $10,463, 71.2 years.
-High-risk urban blacks, $14,800, 71.1 years.
-Longevity disparities were most pronounced in young and middle-aged adults.

A 15-year-old urban black man was 3.8 times as likely to die before the age of 60 as an Asian-American, for example. That's key, Murray said, because this age group is left out of many government health programs that focus largely on children and the elderly. See: Where you live can decide how long you live