Worlds Apart: Gaps in Life Expectancy in the Indianapolis Metro Area
SAVI Talks - July 2015Residents of a Hamilton County suburb have an average life expectancy that is 14 years higher than the life expectancy of residents closer to downtown Indianapolis – 83.7 years compared to just 69.4 years.
On July 15, 2015, The Polis Center and WFYI hosted SAVI Talks, where faculty from Indiana University’s Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health presented research of life expectancy at birth across Central Indiana ZIP Codes. A community conversation followed, discussing the inequality in social determinants that lead to such health disparity.
Residents of a Hamilton County suburb have an average life expectancy that is 14 years higher than the life expectancy of residents closer to downtown Indianapolis – 83.7 years compared to just 69.4 years.
The distance between the 46033 ZIP code in Carmel to and the 46225 ZIP code in south central Indianapolis may be just 28 miles apart, but when it comes to life expectancy, it is worlds apart. Research conducted by the Fairbanks School of Public Health found that in the metro Indianapolis community with the lowest life expectancy in the survey area, a baby born today is likely to live only as long as a baby born in the United States more than 60 years ago, an average life span equivalent to that of babies born in countries with poor health, such as Iran, Uzbekistan or Bangladesh.
Authors & Speakers
Tess D. Weathers,
Research Associate,
IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
Tamara Leech,
Adjunct Faculty,
IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
Lisa Staten,
Associate Professor,
Social and Behavioral Sciences Department Chair,
IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
Partners
WFYI
Spirit & Place
IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health