A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed the life expectancy for every U.S. state.
The life expectancy for the entire U.S. population was 78.7 in 2018, the last year for which complete data is available.
It’s a slight increase from 2017, during which the average life expectancy was found to be 78.6 years.
Hawaii residents were found to have the highest life expectancy at birth, living to an average age of 81 in 2018.
Meanwhile, West Virginia had the lowest life expectancy, with those in the Mountain State living to about 74.4 years old.
Among adults who made it to age 65, their life expectancy ranged from living an additional 17.5 years in Kentucky to living another 21.1 years in Hawaii.
Women lived longer than men in every state, ranging from 3.8 more years to as high as 6.2 additional years.
It comes on the heels of another report from the CDC the coronavirus pandemic cut life expectancy in the U.S. by a full year in the first half of 2020 – the biggest drop in at least two decades.
A new CDC report found Hawaii residents had the highest life expectancy at birth, living to an average age of 81 while West Virginia had the lowest life expectancy at 74.4 years (above)
For the report, the CDC collected state-specific final numbers of deaths for the year 2018 for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Population estimates were based on the 2010 census and expectations for life expectancy after age 65 came from demographic data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
When it came to life expectancy for the total population in 2018, Hawaii ranked first a with a life expectancy at birth of 81 years.
Hawaii has among the lowest levels of obesity in the U.S. as well as a low rate of preventable hospitalizations. and a low rate of smokers.
Rounding out the top five were California, Connecticut, New York and Colorado.
Meanwhile, West Virginia had the lowest life expectancy among the 50 states with residents living to an average of 74.4 years.
West Virginia has one of the worst rates of obesity in the U.S. – second only to Mississippi – with nearly 40 percent of all adults in the state being severely overweight.
The difference between the sexes’ life expectancy was about five years in the U.S. overall and ranged from a high of 6.2 years in New Mexico to a low of 3.8 years in Utah (above)
In addition to the high obesity prevalence, West Virginia also leads the nation in the percentage of adults with diabetes at 15.2 percent.
West Virginia has the nation’s highest drug-overdose death rate and was named in a Wallethub study as the least happy state in America.
It was followed by states that all fell in the Southern U.S.: Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The CDC report also looked at life expectancy of men compared to women. In the U.S. the overall life expectancy was 76.2 years for men and 81.2 years fir women.
California had the highest life expectancy for men at 78.4 years and Hawaii had the highest for women at 84 years.
West Virginia had the lowest rates for both men and women, living an average of 71.7, years and 77.3 years, respectively.
The difference between the sexes’ life expectancy was about five years in the U.S. overall and ranged from a high of 6.2 years in New Mexico to a low of 3.8 years in Utah.
Among adults who made it to age 65, their life expectancy ranged from living an additional 17.5 years in Kentucky to living another 21.1 years in Hawaii (above)
‘With a few exceptions, the states with the largest sex differences are those with lower life expectancy at birth, while the smallest sex differences are found mostly among states with higher life expectancy,’ the CDC wrote in its report.
Lastly, the report looked at life expectancy once adults hit age 65, when they are considered to be senior citizens.
Hawaii had the highest life expectancy with adults living an average of 21.1 additional years while Kentucky and Mississippi tied for lowest, with older adults living 17.5 more years.
Hawaii also ranked first when it came to male and female citizen life expectancy after age 65, each living 19.3 and 22.6 more years, respectively.
Meanwhile, Mississippi came in last for men, who lived an additional 15.9 years, and Kentucky was last for women, who lived 18.6 additional years.
‘States with the lowest life expectancies at age 65 are mostly concentrated in the south, and those with the highest life expectancies are mostly in the west and northeast,’ the authors wrote.