Life Expectancy of New Yorkers Rises With Influx of Immigrants, Study Finds - NYTimes.com: A stunning increase in the life expectancy of New Yorkers over the past 20 years, compared with the rest of the country, has been driven by sharp declines in deaths from AIDS, homicide, smoking-related illnesses and, in a surprising twist, an increase in the numbers of immigrants, a new study has found.
For years, the life expectancy in New York City was lower than that in the rest of the country. But since 1990, it has risen by 6.3 years for women and 10.5 years for men, according to the study, by the University of Pennsylvania’s Population Studies Center.
In 2010, the most recent year for which there is complete data, life expectancy in New York City for women was 83 and for men it was 78.
The magnitude of the gains recalls those that followed major public health improvements, like the advent of sewage systems at the end of the 19th century.
By the early 2000s, New Yorkers were living as long as Americans generally, but by 2010 New Yorkers were living 1.9 years longer, according to the study.
The study’s authors, Samuel Preston, a professor of demography and sociology, and Irma Elo, a professor of sociology, used federal health and mortality data to measure what drove the faster increases in the city.
