Community Corner

Belmont Residents Living Longer than Other Bay Staters and Most Americans

Belmont women and men have seen their life expectancy increase by 5.8 years and 6.6 years respectively in the past quarter century.

By Heather Martino

If you reside in Belmont, you're likely to live longer than most other Bay Staters with females living an average of 83.2 years. Statewide, Massachusetts residents live for an average of 82.4 years while in the US, female life expectancy is 80.8 years.

Using the map above, you can see how Middlesex County residents compare with the rest of Massachusetts and the nation. 

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In Belmont and Middlesex country, men's life expectancy is 79.3 years which is 3.2 years more than the US as a whole. 

In the past quarter century (1985 to 2010), men have seen life expectancy increase by 6.6 years and women up by 5.8 years. 

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

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 added 5.3 years to their lives since 1985, while women added three.

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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