MMWR Supplements: Current Volume (2013). November 22, 2013 / Vol. 62 / Supplement / No. 3 / Pg. 1 – 187. CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report — United States, 2013

“CDC works 24 hours a day, seven days a week protecting people in the United States from health threats in order to save lives, promote health, and reduce costs. Achieving health equity, eliminating health disparities, and improving health in the United States are overarching goals to improve and protect our nation’s health. Over the past 50 years, the United States has made significant progress toward these important goals. Life expectancy increased from just under 70 years in 1960 to approximately 79 years in 2011. People are living longer, healthier, and more productive lives. However, this upward trend is neither as rapid as it should be — we lag behind dozens of other nations – nor is it uniformly experienced by people in the United States. In fact, these two shortcomings of our health system are distinct but related. Our overall health status does not achieve our potential. An important part of this — even though preventable illness, injury, disability, and death affect all segments of society — is that life expectancy and other key health outcomes vary greatly by race, sex, socioeconomic status, and geographic location. In the United States, whites have a longer healthy life expectancy than blacks, and women live longer than men. There are also marked regional differences, with much lower life expectancy among both white and black Americans who live in the Southeast.”