Life expectancies for the poor in Middle Tennessee
The New York Times published a remarkable story this week showing how life expectancy amongst the poor — 40-year-olds with household incomes below $28,000 — varies depending on geography. The upshot (no pun intended) is as the headline says: The Rich Live Longer Everywhere. For the Poor, Geography Matters.
The interactive feature will also give you a look at how the figures stack up in Davidson County and the greater Nashville area.
You should peruse the whole feature, but here are a few takeaways:
— As the chart to the right shows, poor people in Davidson County live shorter lives than their counterparts in most surrounding counties.
— Life expectancies for poor men and women have been on the rise nationally and in Nashville, but they have grown slower than average in Nashville.
— There's this: "In Davidson County, the poor will die about 8 years before the rich. That’s roughly equivalent to the difference in life expectancy between an average man in the United States and one in Afghanistan."
There's more to see too, including a breakdown of characteristics that correlate strongly with life expectancy and other's that don't — some of the characteristics will seem obvious, some not as much. But it's all worth checking out.
