Environmental Research Foundation . . P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403 . .
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To subscribe, E-mail the words . . It seems obvious that poor people are more likely to be sick, and to die at an earlier age, compared to rich people. It isn't the absolute level of poverty that matters so much as the size of the gap between rich and poor. Each study defines a measure of income inequality and compares it to various rates of disease and other social problems. For example in Louisiana and Mississippi the age-adjusted death rate is about 960 per 100,000 people, while in New Hampshire it is about 780 per 100,000 and in Utah it is about 710 per 100,000 people.