Some good news for residents of the Big Apple: New Yorkers can expect to live longer than ever before, and longer even than our fellow Americans, on average. The life expectancy for a baby born in 2009 has risen to an impressive 80.6 years, while the national average is 78.2-years.
Of course, many public health officials, including New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley, are patting themselves on the back for this notable achievement. ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross himself suspects that the city s stringent anti-smoking laws have played a significant role in extending the average life expectancy. These anti-smoking regulations were put in place beginning around 2003, he points out. So by now, they have quite possibly prevented many cases of heart disease, as well as some smoking-related cancers, contributing to our improved statistics.
Other factors that may have significantly contributed to the city s increased life expectancy include the sharp drop in the rate of death from HIV now 11 percent lower than in 2009, and almost 52 percent lower than in 2002 as well as reduced mortality from heart disease, cancer, homicides, and traffic accidents.
While a decrease in the city s obesity rate may very well play a role in the higher life expectancy, too, Dr. Ross counters that some initiatives many people applaud have probably had no effect whatsoever on New Yorkers health particularly the campaign against sugary drinks, the recent calorie-labeling regulations, and the city-wide ban on trans fats.
But possibly the biggest reason for New Yorkers higher than average life expectancy, says ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom, is simple: Everyone in the city walks, and they walk fast. This alone gives you a definite cardiovascular benefit, he says. But, he adds, "The benefits of access to Papaya King cannot be dismissed at this time.
