Hawaii has highest life expectancy in U.S. for those over 65

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii residents who are older than 65 have the highest average life expectancy of any state in country, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The C.D.C. says that the life expectancy for Americans, or "the average remaining years of life a person can expect to live on the basis of the current mortality rates for the population," is generally less in the South than it is elsewhere in the country, and Hawaii residents older than 65 tend to live longer than their counterparts on the mainland.

For residents older than 65, the report found that the average life expectancy was 21.3 years, considerably higher than it was in Mississippi, the lowest in the nation, at 17.5 years.

The report also showed that on average, women in Hawaii over the age of 65 had a higher average life expectancy than men of the same age did, at 23.2 years compared to 19.3 years.

Over the past century in the United States, a general decline in death rates has resulted in a corresponding increase in average life expectancy, the report says.

If you want to read the full report, click here.