You can have a great quality of life and live longer if you’re lucky enough to be in one of the better states. But, if you’re not that lucky, you may see a higher than average mortality rates. In fact, the probability of dying in the worst state is 54% MORE than the best state. Yikes! The probability of dying in the 10 deadliest states is 30% more than the probability of dying in the 10 best states. Here’s the list of the 10 States with the Lowest Mortality Rates.
Insider Monkey compiled mortality rates by age group for each state from the Center for Disease Control’s Compressed Mortality dataset. By the way, YES, it’s adjusted for age. (Explanation: Just looking at mortality rates wouldn’t be enough to spot the states with the absolutely horrible mortality rates though. The mortality rate increases as people age, so if a state has a higher proportion of older people, then naturally it will have a higher unadjusted mortality rate. This doesn’t mean that it’s one of the deadliest states. Take Florida for example. The old adage is that retirees move to Florida and eventually die there. Yes, Florida has the 6th highest unadjusted mortality rate. But, it has the lowest mortality rate in the whole country for people 85 years old and older. The reason for the one of the highest unadjusted mortality rates? There are just more older people in Florida.)
Here are the 12 deadliest states in the USA:
12. North Carolina: 903 per 100,000 people died last year. But since it has a relatively young population, its unadjusted mortality rate is only 865.
11. Georgia: The birthstate of Ray Charles saw 932 per 100,000 die last year. It has the 10th lowest unadjusted mortality rate of 754, showing the importance of age adjustments when calculating mortality rates.
10. South Carolina: 934 per 100,000 people died here last year. The unadjusted mortality rate is 907. The Carolinas seems to be lethal.
9. Arkansas: 946 per 100, 000- that’s down from 1028 per 100,00 if you don’t adjust it.
8. Oklahoma: Like Arkansas, Oklahoma has a higher unadjusted mortality rate (1008); but its adjusted mortality rate is 966.
7. Tennessee: The KKK’s founding state saw 967 per 100,00 die last year.
6. Kentucky: The adjusted mortality rate is 975 – just slightly above the unadjusted mortality rate of 970. Kentucky also has the third highest poverty rate in the country. I am not a freakonomics economist, so I can’t say that poverty leads to more deadly crime and less health care.
5. West Virginia: West Virginia has the highest unadjusted mortality rate in the country (1161). But its adjusted mortality rate is only 991. West Virginia too has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation- the fourth highest.
4. Alabama: Same story here. Fourth highest adjusted (997) and unadjusted (1024) in the country. Alabama has the lowest poverty rate in the country (Just kidding, it has the highest poverty rate).
3. District of Columbia: The adjusted mortality rate is 1000 per 100,000. It has the fifth highest poverty rate in the country.
2. Louisiana: Surprisingly, Louisiana was not in the top 10 list of poorest states. Its unadjusted mortality rate is relatively low (943) yet its adjusted mortality rate is 1006.
1. Mississippi: What is going on in the South? It has the nation’s highest death rate- a whopping 1020 per 100,00 people. Incidentally, it also has the country’s second highest (behind Alabama) poverty rate.
If you live in one of these states and this article made you depressed, you can Live Longer by Moving to These States.