Economic Human Rights (31): Poverty and Life Expectancy in the U.S.

It’s not a surprise that poor people have lower life expectancy than others. Poverty, after all, means less resources to spend on healthcare, means more obesity, less health insurance coverage, more stress, more depression, unhealthy labor conditions etc. What is surprising – at least to me – is that the difference between life expectancy for the rich and poor has been growing, even before the outbreak of the current economic recession:

More on the links between poverty and health here, here, here, here and here. Read here about poverty as a human rights issue. More on life expectancy here.