Community Corner

DuPage County Residents Live Longer Than Anywhere Else in Illinois

A national life-expectancy map of the United States shows that Americans are living longer than three decades ago, but there are widening disparities between counties.

Heather Martino contributed to this article.

Men and women in DuPage County have the longest lifespans of any county in Illinois, and some of the longest among all counties in the United States, a new study reveals.

Across the country, people are living long than ever, according to the study from the University of Washington, which analyzed life expectancy rates for both men and women from 1985-2010.

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Men in DuPage live an average of 79.6 years, while women live an average of 83.4 years—both the highest in Illinois, according to the study. (The numbers are up from 74.2 for men and 79.0 for women in 1985.)

Using the map above, which displays the average lifespan for the United States by county for both men and women, you can see how DuPage residents compare with the rest of Illinois and the nation.

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Throughout the US, major improvements in life expectancy occurred in areas with large metropolises, like parts of California, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Iowa, New York and Virginia. But the disparity is widening, with counties in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama seeing declines or stagnations in residents’ average age of death.

Researchers also found that women were living longer than men in every county in 2010. But men are catching up, having adding 5.3 years to their lives since 1985, while women only added 3.

Even more worrisome is that 45 percent of women in counties nationwide are dying younger now or at the same rate than they were in 1985. So while men are living longer in counties across the country, women are remaining stagnant in much of the country.

“As a nation, what we can do about that is have a concerted effort to tackle the key preventable causes in those communities where there is no improvement,” said IHME Director Christopher Murray.

He told Patch that in places where there is stagnation, local communities should “focus on changing things there that we know can make a difference, like diet, tobacco, high blood pressure and physical inactivity.”


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