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What's The Life Expectancy in The U.S.? Find Out Which Country Your State Compares To
It's easy to feel cynical, but American life expectancy is actually higher than ever before. With the advent of modern medicine and more broadly available public knowledge on health and nutrition, the average lifetime in the U.S. now stands at 79.8 years; an impressive increase of nearly thirty years over the last century. It's not what it could be, however — for all the staggering expenses we pay for health care, we only rank 35th worldwide.
But not all states are created equal when it comes to living as long a life as you possibly can. The range across the fifty states is diverse: click on to find out how your state's average life expectancy compares to other nations abroad.
Images: Getty Images
Hawaii is Like...
The gold standard of long-living in the United States sits in an island paradise outside continental boundaries. It should come as little surprise, then, that its lengthy life expectancy is equivalent to another gorgeous island…
Cyprus
Life expectancy: 81.8 years
Alaska is Like...
The diverse and picturesque vistas of Alaska can easily fill a life’s worth of natural wonderment. Which is lucky, since people there live about a year and a half less than the national average, not unlike…
Kuwait
Life expectancy: 78.3 years
New York Compares To...
The state of New York is home to America’s most populous city, crowned by the bustling borough of Manhattan. It outpaces the national average for life expectancy by less than one year, matching with another thriving, densely populated nation…
Taiwan
Life expectancy: 80.5 years
Texas Is Just Like...
Texas is prominent in health news of late, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which Texas Republicans are so dubious of that Gov. Perry refused the law’s offered Medicare expansion, costing health insurance for millions of Texans.
Which is a shame, because they could use it! Texans live more than a year less than the national average, kindred spirits with the people of…
Barbados
Life expectancy: 78.5 years
Mississippi Is Like...
Like Texas, Mississippi is turning down a dynamite deal on Medicare expansion, largely due to the politically toxic fact that it’s a component of the Affordable Care Act. That sucks, because the people of Mississippi are in even direr straits than Texans are.
The life expectancy in Mississippi is staggeringly low relative to the national average — nearly five full years less. Which puts it right on par with…
Syria
Life expectancy: 75 years
Minnesota is Compares To...
Minnesota experiences some of the coldest winters on offer within the United States.
But despite such extreme winter conditions, which can present a host of perils if not properly prepared for, there are few places better for your length of life than the North Star State. Its impressive above-average life expectancy is a mirror image of that haven of socialized medicine…
The United Kingdom
Life expectancy: 81.1 years
Connecticut is Like...
Nestled in New England, you can expect to enjoy a lifespan not quite to the vaunted level of Hawaii or Minnesota, but you’ll still be in fine shape to outlive the average American by right around one year. This standard of longevity is echoed across the Atlantic in…
Belgium
Life expectancy: 80.8 years
California
The Sunshine State lives up to its reputation for vigorousness and good health, at least insofar as the lives of its citizens are concerned — like Connecticut, it bests the national average by a solid year, and almost certainly has better Mexican food.
If you’re looking for a new home overseas, but don’t want to sacrifice any of that extra year your Californian lifestyle affords you, look no further than…
Liechtenstein
Life expectancy: 80.8 years
The Full Map
Can’t get enough about your state? Click here to find out which country your state is as wealthy as.
