An IHME study analyzed life expectancy in 3,110 U.S. counties from 2000 to 2019, revealing the huge differences that come with educational attainment. During this period, the life expectancy gap between the least educated and the most educated widened from 8 to 11 years. In the past 20 years, the life expectancy of university graduates has increased by 2.5 years to 84.2 years. If viewed as a country, their life expectancy ranks fourth in the world. By comparison, life expectancy for those without a high school diploma stagnated at 73.5 years, ranking 137th globally.
TheLancetPublicHealth published a new analysis from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine, revealing significant and growing gaps in life expectancy by educational attainment in more than 3,000 U.S. counties.
The study found that the gap in life expectancy between the most and least educated people has widened over time, from eight years in 2000 to nearly 11 years in 2019. Life expectancy for college graduates increased by 2.5 years, to 84.2 years, while life expectancy for those with some college education increased by less, by only 0.7 years, to 82.1 years. Life expectancy for high school graduates increased by just 0.3 years, to 77.3 years. In stark contrast, people without a high school diploma showed no improvement, and their life expectancy remains at 73.5 years.
education, employment and health
"In the United States, more formal education tends to mean better employment opportunities, including higher-paying jobs with lower health risks," said the study's senior author Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, associate professor at IHME. "This puts people in a better position to build healthy lives and access high-quality health care when they need it."
Across all education groups, life expectancy across counties ranged from 68.2 to 93.2 years. Those who have not completed high school have the largest differences among counties, ranging from 57.9 to 90.1 years old, a difference of 32.2 years. The smallest difference between counties is for college graduates, with a difference of 18.7 years from 75.2 years to 93.9 years. In short, a college graduate in a county with a quality of life index of 93.9 lives 36 years longer than a high school graduate in a county with a quality of life index of 57.9. Even globally, lifespans vary widely among people with different education levels and between counties. For example, if American college graduates were a country, their life expectancy in 2019 would rank fourth in the world (out of 199 countries). In comparison, life expectancy for those with less than a high school degree would rank 137th.
Geographic and demographic differences
There are large geographical differences within and between educational levels. The Southeast, parts of Appalachia, and parts of South Dakota have relatively low LE levels, especially among those who have not graduated from high school. Among those with some college education, certain counties in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida, as well as northern Arizona, experienced relatively large declines in LE. Parts of Virginia and the Carolinas, as well as parts of Texas, Louisiana and Nebraska, also experienced significantly steeper declines in employment among high school graduates than in most other counties. The decline was particularly steep for those without a high school diploma in parts of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia.
However, enrollment among those who did not complete high school rose sharply in California, while enrollment declined in many other counties. This may have something to do with the state's large immigrant population. Immigrants generally have longer life expectancies than their U.S.-born peers, likely due in large part to factors that determine who can immigrate to the United States.
Women's life expectancy is generally higher than men's. Nationally, women who have not completed high school live to be closer to 72 years, while men are closer to 68 years. Furthermore, the gap in life expectancy between the least and most educated men was wider and increased more than that of women over the 20 years studied.
For the first time, IHME researchers studied the educational gap in life expectancy (LE) between men and women aged 25 in 3,110 counties between 2000 and 2019, including four education levels: people without a high school diploma, high school graduates, people with some college education, and college graduates.
Compiled from /ScitechDaily
DOI:10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00303-7.