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The average life expectancy in the Big Apple last year soared to its highest level ever: 83.2 years — a milestone that wasn’t expected to be reached till 2030, according to preliminary city data.
The tentative figures mean elderly New Yorkers typically punched out 8 months later than in 2023, when their life expectancy was 82.6 years, the city Health Department revealed Tuesday.
By comparison, the average life expectancy for Americans overall in 2023 was 78.4, or four years and two months less. There is no even preliminary public government data yet for a countrywide figure in 2024.
The good news for the city was revealed in the Health Department’s Annual Summary of Vital Statistics for 2023.
But there are still troubling disparities in New York City’s life expectancy depending on gender, race and income, according to the most accurate figures, which involve 2023.
While male New Yorkers saw a significant jump in their life expectancy that year, rising from 78.4 to 79.7 years, they don’t come close to the golden-age era women are enjoying.
Female New Yorkers lived 85.2 years on average in 2023.
When it came to race, Asian and Pacific Islanders lived the longest in the five boroughs, clocking in an average age of 86.9 years, while black New Yorkers survived just an average of 78.3 years — an 8.6-year difference.
Whites lived an average of 83.3 years, while Hispanics and Latinos follow closely at 82.8 years.
The disparity could be blamed on a number of reasons, but the report points out that black New Yorkers suffer the highest rate of drug-related deaths and their babies die at 3.8 times the rate of white New Yorkers’ children.
Still, the city’s overall infant mortality rate dropped by 2.3%, with 4.2 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The birth rate in the five boroughs remained the same between 2022 and 2023 at a rate of 11.9 births per 1,000 population.
English (US)