An Equity Profile of Orange County
PolicyLink and PERE
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Readiness Racial disparities in health outcomes One dimension of readiness includes how long we expect people to live once they are born, (i.e. life expectancy at birth). Life expectancy can reflect a wide variety of factors in a person’s environment including access to health care, exposure to pollution, inadequate food environments, and social/financial security. African Americans and Native Americans have the lowest life expectancy at birth, with the average Black resident living nearly three years less than the county average. For context, though three years may seem short on paper, this length of time is the equivalent to the years that could be gained by eliminating certain prevalent and devastating diseases. For example the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that removing all cancer deaths across the nation would increase average lifespan by 3.2 years.1
Black and Native American populations have lower life expectancies 58. Life Expectancy at Birth, Orange County, 2015
84.3
82.3
81.8 80.8 80.0 79.0
All
Black
Native American
1Arias,
Elizabeth, Melonie Heron, and Betzaida Tejada-Vera. 2013. United States Life Tables Eliminating Certain Causes of Death, 1999–2001. 9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Note: Data represent a 2011 through 2015 average.
White
Latino
Asian or Pacific Islander
