How does U.S. life expectancy stack up against that of other countries? If you’re a woman living in Collier County, Fla. , you’re doing pretty well, statistically speaking. According to a new study from researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and Imperial College London, girls born in 2007 can expect to live to about 86 — better than in France, Spain and Switzerland, among other countries. Men in Fairfax County, Va. , are also sitting fairly pretty, with a 2007 life expectancy at birth of 81.1 years, better than their counterparts in Japan and Australia. In general, residents of the northern Plains states, Eastern seaboard and Pacific coast live longer than average. Go south, though, and life expectancies tend to do the same. In some counties in the U.S., life expectancies hover near those seen in the longest-lived nations (places like Japan, Iceland and Australia) — in 1957. In five counties in Mississippi, women can expect to live an average of 74.1 years or less, a shorter projected lifespan than females in Honduras and El Salvador. Men in five counties in that same state can expect to live to an average of 66.5 or less, worse than in Latvia and the

Philippines. U.S. women still live longer than men, on average — 80.8 years vs. 75.6 years, both ranking 37th highest in the world. But women are slipping. In about 40% of counties, life expectancies for females fell more than five years behind the countries with the highest life expectancies. Black men and women in the U.S., meantime, have lower life expectancies than white. In no U.S. counties do blacks live longer than people in the longest-lived countries in the world. Like other studies of U.S. longevity , this one suggests a role for high rates of obesity , smoking , inactivity and of other risk factors, such as high blood pressure and elevated blood glucose. The authors suggest that while some national initiatives, like tobacco taxes, can play a role to change this, local innovations and approaches tailored to different populations are crucial. The authors don’t, as have others , blame the basic characteristics of the U.S. health system. A lack of health insurance, for example, can’t explain the poor performance compared to other countries or disparities within the U.S. The study appears in Population Health Metrics. Image: iStockphoto

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How Long Will You Live? Check the Map and the Mirror.