ICYMI: How Long Do People Live in Norwalk?

Editor’s note: This article was originally published earlier this week on Patch. We’re republishing it here in case you missed it:

By FEROZE DHANOA (Patch Staff)

Connecticut’s Fourth Congressional District has an expected life expectancy that exceeds the national average and is among the top 20 in the country, according to a new study.

The expected life expectancy at birth is 82.5 years in the district. The congressional district covers a wide swath of towns including Greenwich, Oxford, Trumbull, Darien, Monroe, Redding, Weston, Easton, New Canaan, Ridgefield, Westport, Fairfield, Norwalk, Stamford, Wilton and part of Shelton.

The district ranks 17th in the country on the human development index, which takes into account life expectancy, education and median earnings. There are 436 districts across the country.

The study, called Geographies of Opportunity, was published last week by the Social Science Research Council, as part of their ongoing effort to track disparities in quality of life across America.

According to the study, the average life expectancy in the United States is now 79.1 years, an increase of almost four years over life expectancy in 1990. But according to the researchers, some Americans, especially African Americans and some Southerners, have seen far less of an increase. A few parts of the South have seen no increase at all.

The longest life expectancy in the U.S. is in California’s 19th Congressional district, which includes San Jose and part of Santa Clara County, where people live 83.9 years on average, or roughly as long as people in Japan.

The lowest life expectancy is in rural southeastern Kentucky, where people live just under 73 years, or about as long as residents of the Gaza Strip.

By way of comparison in Connecticut, residents living in the Fifth Congressional District live until 80.8 years and that includes: Avon, Southbury and Newtown. The Second Congressional District’s life-expectancy is 80.6 years and those towns include: Madison, New London and Glastonbury.

The Third Congressional District’s life expectancy is 80.4 years in the district, which covers a wide swath of towns including: Milford, Guilford, Branford, and Hamden, and last is Connecticut’s First Congressional District at 80.1 years, which includes Manchester, West Hartford and Southington.

The study’s authors say a variety of factors affect life expectancy, from access to health insurance to race and employment opportunities. But the study also lists four factors it dubs the “fatal four,” which can shorten lifespan dramatically: smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise and alcohol abuse.

The study also looked into the education of the district. About 89.2 percent of the Fourth District’s residents can be expected to obtain at least a high school degree and about 48.3 percent will obtain at least a bachelors degree.

The median average income for Connecticut residents is also found in the data, and the highest in Connecticut is District 4 at $40,438, followed by District 1 at $38,622, District 5, $36,462, District 3, $35,909, and District 2 at $33,910.