Report: America's Falling Life Expectancy Has Not Affected Black Women

2016 was a year of perpetual bad news. This trend continued when a December report found that, for the first time since 1993, life expectancy for Americans fell, from from 78.9 years to 78.8 years. And while a few days off a lifespan might not seem like much to worry about, American demographers say it is.

“This is a big deal,” says Philip Morgan, a demographer at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill who was not involved in the new analysis.

“There’s not a better indicator of well-being than life expectancy,” he says. “The fact that it’s leveling off in the U.S. is a striking finding.”

Researchers are still sorting through the data to determine the causes, but it seems there has been a rise in diseases (heart, kidney, respiratory, etc) that had been on a downward trend, as well as a spike in suicide and drug deaths. But black women are among the American demographics that have resisted this decline. Black men, white men and white women all saw a reduction in life expectancy, black women and Latinos did not.

So what could it be? The Black Women’s Health Imperative believes that black women are taking responsibility for their health in a more holistic way;

“The data show that the majority of us know that we need to improve and are working on it. We also understand the importance of having a positive attitude. When black women are asked to define what good health means, we say things such as ‘being calm’ or ‘being at peace.’ We don’t use diseases to define it. We don’t let a condition like obesity define who we are, even though we work on getting into shape.”

A recent report by the Black Woman’s Health Imperative shows that black women tend to be less sedentary than other groups.

“Whether it’s because of a lack of transportation or a determined effort to get exercise, black women tend to walk a lot,” Blount said. “We are on the move more than most.”

The report, which is based on 20 years of research by Boston University, also found that more black women are talking with their daughters, nieces and granddaughters about the risks of unprotected sex. That and other programs focusing on teenage girls have resulted in a dramatic drop in teen pregnancy and infant mortality.”

These findings are consistent with what I’ve seen in my 8 years of health and beauty blogging. Black women’s interest in natural hair has morphed into an interest in wellness and clean eating, and blossomed into advocacy on our own behalf, the creation of hundreds of black-woman-owned businesses, and the forging of real life communities that value black womanhood. The trend in black woman culture is towards self-care, and in a troubled world heading into uncertain times, this is more important than ever.