In this brief, we quantify differences in life expectancy between and within non-Hispanic Black and white populations over time and across states.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Significant and long-standing disparities between Black and white people in various health status metrics are well documented. One strategy to quantify the role of structural racism—that is, laws, regulations, and policies that inequitably distribute the determinants of health along racial lines— on these disparities is to identify the associations between the size of life expectancy gaps and common measures of structural racism by time and geographic area.

WHAT WE FOUND

• Life expectancy increased between 1990 and 2018 for each race/sex category (e.g., Black men, Black women, white men, white women), and overall, the gap between Black and white life expectancy decreased.
• The narrowing of the racial gap can be attributed to accelerated gains in life expectancy for Black people relative to white people during this period.
• Despite the gains, the long-standing Black-white racial gap in life expectancy persists. Nationally, in the three years before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a difference in life expectancy of 5.2 years for men (69.7 years for Black men versus 74.9 years for white men) and 3.1 years for women (76.8 years for Black women versus 79.9 years for white women).
• The gap between Black and white life expectancy was evident in every state. However, there was a substantial range across states within each race/sex category. For example, there was up to 16.5 years difference in white male life expectancy between the District of Columbia and West Virginia (86.2 years and 69.7 years, respectively). The extent of improvement over time varied substantially as well.

HOW WE DID IT

Data from this study come from the US National Center for Health Statistics, which compiles individual death certificate records collected nationwide and population estimates by age, sex, race, and state of residence. Using standard demographic methods, we calculated life expectancy at birth by race and sex in each state in 1989–91 and 2017–19.