STATCAST – Week of September 2, 2019

TRANSCRIPT

A new NCHS report this week examined Mortality Patterns Between the 5 States with the Highest Death Rates and the 5 States with Lowest Death Rates in the United States for the year 2017.

The five states with the lowest overall death rates in 2017 were: Hawaii, California, New York, Connecticut, and Minnesota. The five states with the highest death rates in 2017 were West Virginia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Oklahoma, and as one would expect, these states frequently had some of the highest death rates for specific leading causes of death. West Virginia had the highest death rate in 2017 from both accidents and diabetes, and also had among the top five highest death rates from both cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease. Mississippi had one of the five highest death rates in the country for all ten leading causes of death with the exception of accidents and suicide. Kentucky had the highest cancer death rate in the country in 2017, as well as the third highest death rate for both chronic lower respiratory disease and accidental deaths. Kentucky also had the fifth highest death rate for both diabetes and kidney disease. Alabama had one of the top five highest death rates in the country for heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and influenza and pneumonia. And Oklahoma had the highest death rate from heart disease in the country, and ranked among the top five highest for cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, and diabetes.