The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-01-17
WHERE PEOPLE LIVE THE LONGEST
A CoRpar1sen or The Death Rates tader
the Present Co,aisto.s.

| A Ce1par9s0a or the Death Rates Cnder
the Present Cosaissoss.
opsrtsAt 1891 bys. S. xec7,n-.
Tho average life Of all the babies that como
Into tho world In only about 81 years: very few
live to be over 90 and not moro than ono out
of2.0OO sees his hundredth birthday. Is this
| due to original differences in the babies hem
selves or In tho way they are brought up. in
the places In which they live In the air they
breathe. and in their mode Of life after they
become full grown? To answer tiese ques-
lions one Of the hrst things we want to know is
whether people die equally fast everywhere.
and. " not. where IL Il that they die soonest or
live longest Tho answer to this il that PEG.
Pile die much moro rapidly in some coun-
tries than In others; for instance. they die
twice as fast In Hungary as they do in
Sweden. In the year 1889 out OF every 1000
persons. living In the following named coun-
tries. there died. in England IS; in Norway.
| IL: in Sweden. Us: In Austria. "a; In Hun
| gary. 32: in Germany. 23 in France. II. and
IN Italy. Is. How many died in tho United
States We do not know. because no account OF
them was kept in the greater part of the coun.
| try. but 1t was probably II or Is out Of cach
1000. We do know. however, that they dad
faster In some cities than in others. For rx-
ample. out Of each 1000 persons there died
during the year ending May n. 1870. in Now
York city. ~: in Brooklyn. rs: in Boston. -:
| In Philadelphia. ~: in Chicago. ~ III Detroit
| 20: In ct. Louis. ~, AMI in Minneapolis. Is.
| while in the country districts the loss was
only II or II out OF each 1910.
| Also, we know that they died faster In somc
parts OF the same city than they did in others:
thus. the death rate per thousand in Boston in
tho Eighth ward was 81. while in the Twenty
| fourth ward 1t was ~ IN BROOKLYN, in the
| Fifth ward. it was 33. AMI In the Twenty fourth
,vnrl ,nl In II ,ruv il,
| Ward Four. and IA IN Ward Thirty.ttree.
| What are the causes Of THESE great difIercncesy
| In the first place they depen'l upon the Num-
Der OF little children present in these different
| places. The haby's grasp OF existence is at
first feeble: the little flame Of life in it fickers
aud tren, bles. and il does not require much to
sm atss9cr sh hs hD T aeah Ss
Fourth wnrd in Philadel phia., out Of ench
Wits wts n n" It'd %Sf war S Sny s
| died. which accounts for a large part ot the
difference In tho death rates q the two wards.
thcr inu esa' on "hId liz. 'e'"ee" '"en
die the people live the longest. hut II is true in
% Ave longer ns Tn IN sm tha Sy large
N ' tr county mt on tv"n n they the M ID
States. bat over ali the world. 90 Wv "'''"
Let ,l' now sec whore the greatest number
| OF nla persons. III proportion to IA. total lop.
sta.os. An examination q ths records II Tie
nsns"s sh1ws n i'll IL ss1 tbs was in
Nm csn"essis"', wv; n Msint; iia7: in i"
IN fnaas Island SAN s S snx ii n"V srm%n
;222. These are higher figures. than are
shown for any other state. In New York
p"nnr%Ivania. 4ii: in Maryland. SIT: and in
RSIaT ~ nv la naG i%w. 4 81. n ln Sn
Tsn"ss4" s7 il ! t @ S"i il North
Iiorla: 2;i4: in qrorxia. 4oi: Alaeama ;:s4I:
,IssiS>ippii 24:': i,,ui.inna, III and in Texas.
So, and Colorado. 81.
much on how Iong. tle State has been settled:
t" take possession Of the bronI prairies. the
fertile valleys and the gold ,aand. silver
| who went were the young. the energetic, and
the strong. lcay,n: renind them the the fathers
h"mes Aud that movement las been M" 20 re.
| cent, it has been so com parativey short II time
s hs the a9 ne nf Stas
rir-cni witt, the railroads now necessary; TO
supply large groups IL people. that there has
fathers and Erandmoth"rs to- grow up and get
their hairs properly whitehead nnd their backs
years of age.
When another hundred years have gone we
| NAV hc sure that there will not bs nearly so
/, great ,litfer-rcs in the number OF old persons
! in the different States. hut we may also be
quite sure that then. as now. persons will live
OF the Northern and Middle states Of this
! country. Tho negro lives longer in the South
than he dn.s in the North.
! One OF the best means Of measuring the
Is that ff1rded, ~ the experie Of the
thirty principal life insurance companies Of
| this country previous 70 1874. including
the records OF over million of lives. in
| sured for oyer twenty sN hundred millions
81 dollars. From these records VIZ learn that
ance com IA HES had the lenst loss. by being
| compelled to pay the money they had agreed
to pay in case of the death OF the persons in
surrd IN them. or. IN other words where fairly
sufficiently well on to nay insurance Pre-:
| miums lived the longest. were: Nebraska. 81 !:
Virginia. 81: Maine. 50: Massachusetts. IS:
Kamsas ri Oregon; ~! &o lHinoIs e.: &c. a
Rhode Island. 10. ind Michigan. ~. In this
| list, the figures following the names OF the
States show the proportion Of the loss by
death. Il the average loss Is considered to he
| 100: so that the smalle the figure the greater
| On the other hand. stated in tho same way.
! the States where the loss was greatest and the
| length Of lie least were: Louisiana, l76:
Isxns l1 RI Aamsas IL. Fiorida 117 Nis-
ures for some OF the other States are: Cali
fornia. 81: Connecticut. -; Georgia. i#i: Ken
lucky. l0}: Minnesota. 10!: Missouri. Ill:
New York. %: Ohio. D3: Pennsylvania. 81:
South Casnlina. l15: Virginia. 10: