Ranking Women’s Mortality Rates

A recent study in SSM Population Health found that the state a woman lives in might have more to do with her risk of mortality than factors such as race, education level, or marital status. 

The study analyzed federal data to dig deeper into statistics that show a significant variation in rates of mortality from state to state in the U.S. Analysts concluded that the biggest factors in determining mortality risk were a state’s level of social cohesion - for example, levels of income inequality, unemployment, involvement with community organizations and social trust. A close second was economic environment, which included median household income, poverty rates, and education spending. 

New Hampshire ranked 20th overall for low mortality rates. Hawaii topped the charts, with Nevada ranked last with the highest rate of female mortality in the nation. Massachusetts and Vermont ranked slightly higher than New Hampshire, with the other New England states ranking lower. Overall, the southeastern U.S. tended to have higher mortality rates, while the Plains states were low. 

The study noted that state-to-state differences in men’s mortality rates were not nearly as significant as for women. 

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