Connecticut
Physical Health
The importance of our physical health may seem self-evident. We value living long and prosperous lives. We also cannot achieve our potential if we are sick or unsafe. Physical health is also intricately connected to mental health and other measures of psychological well-being.
Summary of Results.
This is one of the few topics that has only a single measure: life expectancy. Connecticut's progress in this area has been positive.
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Life ExpectancySpecific Measure
The number of years today’s newborn children would live if subject to the mortality risks prevailing for the US population
(Source: Authors' analysis of US State Life Tables 1941-2022 from the Harvard Dataverse).State RankState vs. US trend6Why did we include this measure?
Life expectancy is a common and intuitive measure of how well we succeed in living long and healthy lives. When people die young, it reflects unhealthy habits, availability and quality of health care, and external threats to safety, such as violence. (We note that life expectancy is not simply the average age at which people are currently dying, which, for older Americans, is partially based on factors that occurred in the distant past. Life expectancy tells us how long we can expect today's newborns to live based on the risks that the rest of the population faces now.)
How does Connecticut compare to the rest of the country?
Connecticut's trend in life expectancy has been improving more than the US. Compared to other states, Connecticut has also increased in state ranking by two or more places. Therefore, we categorize Connecticut's comparison to the US as positive. In the most recent year, Connecticut ranked 6 (out of 51). In the same year, Hawaii ranked first, and West Virginia ranked last.
Additional Information.
The main immediate causes behind the pre-COVID national decline in life expectancy were increased drug overdoses and alcohol-related deaths among young people and the middle-aged, especially men. During COVID, the US also had an unusually high "excess mortality" rate, which reflects both the direct and indirect effects on mortality from COVID.Connecticut State Trend Improving
How to Read This Report:
We report each measure three different ways: State Rank, State Trend, State vs. US Trend. Each result is color coded as either red (negative/worsening), yellow (neutral/stable), or green (positive/improving), as indicated below. If the simple trends were erratic, had too few data points, or had no data points, we do not color code and label the trend as “mixed,” "unclear," or "NA," respectively.
State Rank
(Where are we now?)
State Trend
(Where are we going?)
State vs. US Trend
(How do we compare?)
Top third of states
(i.e., ranks 1-17)
Improving
Trendline is improving by >5% and most points are improving relative to the first data point.
Improving
Trendline is improving relative to the national trend and rank is improving by 2+ rank spots.
Middle third of states
(i.e., ranks 18-34)
Neutral/Stable
Doesn't fall into improving, worsening, mixed, unclear, or NA categories.
Neutral/Stable
Trendline is improving/worsening the same amount as the national trend or rank is changing by <2 spots.
Bottom third of states
(i.e., ranks 35-51)
Worsening
Trendline is worsening by >5% and most points are worsening relative to the first data point.
Worsening
Trendline is worsening relative to national trend and rank is declining by 2+ rank spots
Mixed
Large shares of points are improving and worsening by >5% in different parts of the trend.
Mixed
This label only applies when a measure has more than 1 trendline. One trendline is improving and another is worsening.
Unclear
Not enough data to determine a trend.
Unclear
Not enough data to determine a comparison.
Not Applicable
No data.
Not Applicable
No data.
Not Applicable
No data.
For more information on our definitions and methods, please see the Data Notes section.
