Declines in Death Rates Lag in U.S. South

This data visualization shows that adult death rates in the U.S. South diverged from the rest of the country between 1980 and 2015, declining more slowly than in other regions. Users can explore state-level trends for men and women, and changes in individual state rankings.

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Death rates are for adults ages 55 and older in each state, and adjusted so that age differences across states and over time are eliminated to allow for comparison. States are divided into quintiles, with a roughly equal number of states in each category.