Life Expectancy Rises For New Yorkers

According to a just-published report, New Yorkers are now living longer than the national average. Mayor Bloomberg is taking credit, citing his long-running campaigns against smoking and obesity.

The life expectancy for babies born in New York City reached 80.6 years in 2009, the highest level recorded and one that surpasses the national life expectancy rate, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Tuesday. Life expectancy for 40-year-olds in the city also increased, to 82 years in 2009 from 79.5 years in 2000, a gain of 2.5 years, compared with an increase of 1.2 years for the same age group nationwide. New Yorkers who are 70 saw their life expectancy increase 1.5 years, to 86.9, compared with 0.7 years, to 85.1, for the same age group nationwide. “If you have friends and relatives that you deeply care about and they live elsewhere, on average if they move to New York City, they will live longer,” the mayor said.

The above-linked New York Times article pointedly refutes Bloomberg’s claim of credit, noting that a large portion of the increase is due to the plummeting rate of AIDS-related deaths.