Life expectancy by county, sex, and race (US), 1987-2007
Discover how life expectancy changes in the United States from 1987 to 2007. Click on the maps on this page to explore those changes by county, sex, race, and in relation to other countries.
For a larger and more detailed view, IHME has hosted the male life expectancy map and the female life expectancy map on ArcGIS.com where the changes in life expectancy over time are animated. Further details on the definition of terms and how to use these visualizations can be found at the end of the page in the "How to Explore" and “Terms defined” tabs.
Male Life Expectancy, 2007
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Female Life Expectancy, 2007

Now, discover how life expectancy changes for females in the United States from 1987 to 2007. Explore those changes over time by county, race, and in relation to other countries.
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Data Visualization
Maps on this page:
- Click on the plus or minus symbols to zoom in and out. You can also hold down the left button on your mouse to drag the map across the screen (zooming out or dragging will allow you to see Alaska and Hawaii).
- Click on a county to view statistics for that county. Statistics are available from 1987-2007. The default view is 2007. You can use the arrows in the top right corner to select different years.
ArcGIS visualizations:
Life expectancy for male and female.
- Click the play button to view changes over time.
- Click on the plus/minus bar to zoom in and out. You can also hold down the left-click button of your mouse to drag the map across the screen (zooming out or dragging will allow you to see Alaska and Hawaii).
- Click on a county to view statistics for that county (state and county names appear at the top left of the box). Statistics are available from 1987-2007 and show information for the current year displaying in the time series. If you would like to view information for a different year, close the pop-up box, then use the slider at the bottom of the map to select the year you are interested in. Click on the county again for the updated pop-up box to display.
- Legends for each map are available on the bar located on the left side of the map. Click on the first icon on the right (“Show Map Legend”) to display the legend on the screen.
- Click on the middle icon (“Show Contents of Map”) on the bar located on the left side of the map to view additional maps (note: only select one map at a time).
- Male LE: Male life expectancy (years)
- Years behind (male): Years behind international frontier (male)
- Female LE: Female life expectancy (years)
- Years behind (female): Years behind international frontier (female)
- White male LE: Life expectancy for white males (years)
- White female LE: Life expectancy for white females (years)
- Black male LE: Life expectancy for black males (years) (“N/A” displayed if data not available)
- Black female LE: Life expectancy for black females (years) (“N/A” displayed if data not available)
- Countries above (male): Closest ranked countries for male life expectancy (higher)
- Countries above (female): Closest ranked countries for female life expectancy (higher)
- Countries below (male): Closest ranked countries for male life expectancy (lower)
- Countries below (female): Closest ranked countries for female life expectancy (lower)
Data and Methods
Related Publications & Presentations
Kulkarni SC, Levin-Rector A, Ezzati M, Murray CJL. Falling behind: life expectancy in US counties from 2000 to 2007 in an international context. Population Health Metrics. 2011; 9:16.
Related News & Events
Related Research Teams & Projects
Research Team