Living in a southern red state likely means dying younger: report

01 September 2023

Some of the world's best life expectancy outcomes, according to United Nations (UN) data, can be founded in "socialist" countries that MAGA Republicans despise — including 84 in Switzerland, Italy and Spain; 83 in Sweden, Norway, Canada and France; and 82 in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece and Portugal.

Meanwhile, overall life expectancy in the United States, according to UN figures, is around 79. But how long one is likely to live in the U.S. can vary considerably from state to state.

Journalist/author Colin Woodard, in an in-depth report published Politico on September 1, stresses that on the whole, Americans living in the Deep South or Appalachia — are more likely to die younger.

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"On paper, Lexington County, SC and Placer County, Calif., have a lot in common," Woodard explains. They're both big, wealthy, suburban counties with white supermajorities that border on their respective state's capital cities…. But when it comes to how long their residents can count on living, the parallels fall apart. Placer has a Scandinavia-like life expectancy of 82.3 years. In Lexington, the figure is 77.7, a little worse than China's."

Woodard notes that in the "contiguous U.S.," overall life expectancy is "more than 78 years" — that is, "unless you're in the Deep South or the sprawling region I call Greater Appalachia, a region that stretches from Southwestern Pennsylvania to the Ozarks and the Hill Country of Texas."

"It's as if we are living in different countries," Woodard comments. "Because in a very real historical and political sense, we are."

Woodard doesn't really turn his report into a discussion of red states versus blue states, although many of the states in Appalachia and the Deep South that he cites are deeply Republican. The journalist/author delves into history, arguing that events of the 18th and 19th Centuries did a lot to shape the way these states are in 2023.

Moreover, the blue states with higher life expectancy weren't always blue. California, before the 1990s, was very much a red state. And New England used to be heavily Republican. Woodard really focuses on regional belief systems rather than the history of America's political parties.

"The geography of U.S. life expectancy — and the policy environments that determine it — is the result of differences that are regional, cultural and political, with roots going back centuries to the people who arrived on the continent with totally different ideas about equality, the proper role of government, and the correct balance point between individual liberty and the common good," Woodard notes. "Once you understand how the country was colonized — and by whom — a number of insights into Americans' overall health and longevity are revealed, along with some paths to improve the situation."

Politico's full report is available at this link.

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