Trends in the Black-White Life Expectancy Gap in the United States, 1983-2003

Abstract

Life expectancy at birth (the average number of years an individual can expect to live under current age-specific mortality rates)¹ has generally been increasing in the United States since at least the late 19th century.² Additionally, for as long as data have been given by race/ethnicity, life expectancy of blacks has been lower than that of whites.^3,4 However, overall trends tend to obscure the fact that the gap in life expectancy between blacks and whites has varied considerably during the 20th century. The near elimination of typhoid and other waterborne communicable diseases improved black life expectancy in both absolute and relative terms compared with whites in the period 1900-1940, but black-white differences stabilized during the 1960s.⁵