Fourscore in South Dakota: lowering risk for longer life

Life expectancy at birth in South Dakota is 79.5 years, ranking 18th longest in the U.S. South Dakota county-level life expectancies range from 73.2-82.1 years. County-level life expectancies correlate significantly with tobacco smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes, poverty and infant mortality rates, where counties with higher rates of smoking, inactivity, obesity, diabetes, poverty and infant mortality have shorter life expectancies. The critical disparity in life expectancy is the 12-year gap between American Indian and white South Dakotans.