Life Span Of African-Americans In New Orleans Rivals North Korea's

The average life span for African-Americans living in New Orleans is nearly as low as average life expectancy in North Korea, according to A Portrait Of Louisiana, a new report from The American Human Development Project which examines life in the state four years after Hurricane Katrina. (h/t Economix)

According to the report:

The average life span for African-Americans in Louisiana today (72.2 years) is shorter than that of Colombians, Vietnamese and Venezuelans. The average life span of an African-American in New Orleans is 69.3 years, nearly as low as life expectancy in North Korea.

The project also highlights that:

African-Americans in Tangipahoa Parish have well-being levels of the average American in the early 1950s.

From the project's press release (Word doc):

The report, "A Portrait of Louisiana: Louisiana Human Development Report 2009," is a unique snapshot that shows that while some groups enjoy some of the highest levels of well-being in the nation, others in Louisiana experience health, education, and income levels that the rest of the country surpassed three to five decades ago. The report offers new life span statistics and provides a state-wide, parish-by-parish assessment, broken down by race, of such indicators as earnings, high school completion, crime, birth weight, and more.

Comments

[CrescentCityRay]

09:48 PM on 09/18/2009

There are so many damaging myths about New Orleans and its people:

People don't seem to know that the flood, proportionally, killed just as many rich, middle class and poor as well as black, white, Hispanic and Asian New Orleanians? The only demographic that suffered more than the rest were our elderly who suffered the worst, by far. Did you know many thousands of New Orleanians died in the months after the storm from stress and depression, and are still dying?

Do people know that 90% of the metro area evacuated before the storm? It was the most successful evacuation of a metropolitan area in this country's history.

They should know that 70% of New Orleans home owners had flood insurance? - a rate higher than almost anywhere else in the country.

Did you know ships must travel 96 miles upriver from the Gulf to reach New Orleans? - we are not a 'coastal' city.

Do they know that 50% of New Orleans is above sea level?

Do they know that the Lower Ninth Ward is but only 2 of the 140 urban square miles (in just Orleans Parish) that flooded when flood control structures fell down.

Do they know that New Orleans has a higher percentage of residents that remain lifelong residents of their home town than any other major metropolitan area in the US?

Do they know the vast majority of New Orleanians are honest, hard working, tax paying, law abiding US citizens and deserve their respect?

[OpposingViewpoint]

10:06 PM on 09/18/2009

Thank you for this information CCR. It does put a whole new prespective on what I consider sensationalism with respect to this article.

[dutchman]

03:29 AM on 09/19/2009

Fanned and faved. You are spot on, and I am grateful for the many good times I have had in your gem of a city. I grieve over its tragedy, but am hopeful for a complete recovery. There is no place on earth like New Orleans, and we would be profoundly diminished if it didn't remain one of America's truly great, if challenged cities.

[CrescentCityRay]

11:13 AM on 09/19/2009

Thanks, please help us fight the slander against our good people.

Our outfall canal floodwalls fell down without even being overtopped by storm surge water (at less than half their design loads) because of negligent engineering in the design of those floodwalls' foundations by engineers employed with the US Army Corps of Engineers as reported in the official levee failure investigation reports and reported to Congress by Corps leadership in June of 2006 and as decided by US 5th District Judge S. Duval in January 2008.

i.e. it was not a 'natural' disaster! The classification is 'MAN MADE'! - human error, engineering mistakes. New Orleanians deserve vindication on this issue.

Floodwall sheet-piles were driven to only 17.5 feet below sea level when a competent engineer would have needed to specify about 60' to resist a storm surge rising to the height of the top of the wall.

In simple term, New Orleans was short sheeted by the USACE

The levees did not fail because they were 'overwhelmed'. Federal engineers made lots of big stupid mistakes. Our disaster was the worst engineering catastrophe in the history of North America and the engineers that designed and built and were responsible for those failed levees are the same engineers tasked to rebuild our storm surge protection system. And, the federal government gives us no choice (and never did), but to accept the Corps' work. Locals were only supposed to mow the grass.

[CJShocker]

09:09 PM on 09/18/2009

So why doesn't BHO do something about it. The ball is in his court.

[jsgaetano]

11:23 AM on 09/21/2009

That's a good question.

[jsgaetano]

11:24 AM on 09/21/2009

A better question is what Bobby Jindal's been doing with the "stimulus funds" he pretended not to want...

[AlsoSarah]

08:14 PM on 09/18/2009

Don't even get me going on this. This is a subject that makes me furious. Exactly how have we rebuilt New Orleans? Have we made sure that the residents are back in their homes? If not (and I can almost guarantee they haven't). Why didn't we move in the National Guard or our Military to rebuild New Orleans? No instead we sent them to Iraq to rebuild their country. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

[AlsoSarah]

08:24 PM on 09/18/2009

We turned our own citizens into refugees.

[joeconservative1]

08:49 PM on 09/18/2009

not their mission

[Whinger]

07:18 PM on 09/18/2009

Time or fate, whichever takes you, you'll live to you die!

[rasharp]

07:13 PM on 09/18/2009

I am surprised that anyone is surprised about this.

[murphy80]

06:33 PM on 09/18/2009

its all up to Bobby J. and the capitalists.

[KriTiKiT]

07:10 PM on 09/18/2009

theys dogs yo

[pipetoe]

05:46 PM on 09/18/2009

Many Many Many New Orleans citizens now live in Houston....

[dutchman]

07:44 PM on 09/18/2009

Which makes them Houston citizens.

[AlsoSarah]

08:20 PM on 09/18/2009

But they were refugees first. In America, on American soil. We allowed it.

[AlsoSarah]

08:22 PM on 09/18/2009

But they were refug-ees first. American refug-ees on American soil. And we allowed it.

[ejhickey]

05:46 PM on 09/18/2009

Evan before Katrina , the life expectancy of a resident of New Orleans was far below that of other US residents. I did not think it was even as high as 69 years . In 2005 the WSJ had an article on the same issue which stated the LE was about 60 years. The shorter LE was attributed to life style including diet , smoking an alcohol consumption and external factors such as the murder rate. The findings were applicable to all classes and races. There were difference between black, whites, hispanics and asians but all groups had lower LE than similar groups in other areas of the US. Bottom line - Life may be sweeter in NO but it is shorter.

[doctorj2u]

08:28 PM on 09/18/2009

Stress and injustice I guess has nothing to do with it.

[ejhickey]

08:01 PM on 09/19/2009

Good guess.

[littlewitch]

05:40 PM on 09/18/2009

Huh How old are you. Louisiana is one of the most conservative states in the south for the last 20 years. Even the Democrats are Repubs here ask Mary Landrieu.

[pottedferne]

08:07 PM on 09/18/2009

and especially Charlie Melancon!!

[DodgerFan1988]

05:29 PM on 09/18/2009

This makes Governor Bobby Jingal Louisana's version of Kim Jong-Il

[OpposingViewpoint]

05:28 PM on 09/18/2009

Come on guys, do some reading and you will find the life expectency in NO for AA's is really not any different than the rest of the US. This article is just more divisive r-a-c-e-b-a-i-t-n-g from the same sources. Haven't you had about enough of that?

Life Expectancy - 09/13/2006
Black male: 69.8 years
White male: 75.7 years
Black female: 76.5 years
White female: 80.8 years
What about Native Americans, does anyone know what the life expectancy of Native Americans is in South Dakota (2006 data), do you care?
http://www.webmd.com/news/20060913/top-states-for-life-expectancy

The longest living group, "America One," consists of 10.4 million Asians, with an average life expectancy of 85, says the study in the journal PloS Medicine. That's 27 years longer than the average 58-year life expectancy of Native Americans in South Dakota.

The second group, "America Two," indicates that income isn't the key to a longer life span. This group is made up of 3.6 million low-income whites living in Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa, Montana and Nebraska, with an average life expectancy of 79. "White populations living below the median incomes in northern states have the best level of health among whites.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-09-11-life-expectancy_x.htm

[itsmyparty]

07:28 PM on 09/18/2009

Thank you for remembering the Native Americans.I care.

[OpposingViewpoint]

08:45 PM on 09/18/2009

Thanks for caring. Many don't, we are the "forgotten prople".

[power to the people]

05:21 PM on 09/18/2009

And those last three years are some of the greatest. Apparently you think you're ar Disneyland most of the time.

[babyjupiter24]

05:21 PM on 09/18/2009

maybe now the gop will have tea parties and chamber out bursts now that it has been proven that some americans are living under conditions tantamount to north korea's socialism? ah... oops i forgot. they only complain about socialism when things can actually benefit the country.

no need for the gop to complain when things are as upsetting as poverty in new orleans, or hurricanes named katrina hit town or when homeless citizens, including vietnam vets are living under bridges or when the economy is tanking or when banks require regulation or when insurance companies rob the public blind. or when illegal and misguided wars are being waged or when corp ceos' are being payed kings' ransom for below 0 performances.

no...who needs to rock the boat when things seem hopeless or out of control. it's when ideas are formulated to correct our societies ills, while they have no alternative answers, and/or simply don't care... such is the time to march on washington! says the mind of the con.

[grainofsalt55555]

05:14 PM on 09/18/2009

Basically their are lot's of legitimate reasons why these specific people mentioned in the headline cannot just 'pick up and leave' none of it has to do with laziness, or relying on your precious tax dollar 'handouts' please research poverty a bit before you make comments like "Why don't they just leave?"

[grainofsalt55555]

05:10 PM on 09/18/2009

Poverty breeds poverty, people like those living in these very poor parishes in new orleans are born into a close to hopeless situation with all the odds stacked against them, things like discount grocery stores do not exist for a specific example little corner markets that you typically see in crappy neighborhoods cannot afford the wholesalers discount so a loaf of bread is 4 or 5 bucks instead of the 2 loafs for 3 dollars at your safeway, costco, or walmart etc none of those larger markets exist within walking or biking distance. Imagine you are born into a poor whatever community, ghetto whatever the feeling of hoplessness that you and most people in your community have including your family, education sucks you may not even go because of fears of gangs or just not care. Someone should make saying generalizing comments without proof behind it on a serious topic a crime of some sort.