Transcript for:
The Impact of Zip Code on Life Expectancy

[Music] what determines how long we'll live is it what we do is it who we [Music] are actually when it comes to predicting how long you'll [Music] live your ZIP code is more important than your genetic code here's how this works meet Deb and Maria they both have jobs they're around the same age they're both married and they both have two kids Deb lives in a toown while Maria lives in beille less than 1 mile away they're similar in so many ways but here's the thing on average residents of beille will die more than 15 years sooner than the residents of aown why because where you live is about more than just your address it's about your opportunities for example Deb and Maria's access to healthy options is really different in a toown Deb's family is surrounded by healthy food options including farmers markets specialty shops and grocery stores the air in a town is cleaner and fresher and there are lots of safe clean parks where Deb can can exercise and her children can play a toown has good public schools for Deb's kids and easy access to emergency and preventive healthc care on the other hand bville has broken badly lit sidewalks and the parks are unsafe the air is filled with truck exhausts from the nearby Highway and for food options Maria's only choices are beeville's many liquor stores fast food places or convenience stores the schools in beille are overcrowded at and unders supported and even if Maria can get her kids into better schools far away she needs to figure out how to get them there without access to a car so for Maria having to juggle so much to find healthy options can be an overwhelming source of chronic stress which is a serious health risk factor in fact for all the residents of Beville chronic stress drives health problems like obesity diabetes asthma and heart disease how did at toown and bille get so different well in many cases in cities and towns across California the root cause was racial and economic discrimination over the generations poor white people and people of color were pushed to less desirable parts of town where Banks refused to lend money businesses left jobs too schools declined and the neighborhood crumbled everyone who could move away did and what's more when communities like atown and bville are so unequal bville isn't the only one that suffers because it turns out that not only is your ZIP code a predictor of how long you'll live so is what country you live in countries with the greatest income inequality have the lowest life expectancy so even Americans like Deb who are white insured college educated and upper income younger than their peers in other countries in fact our life expectancy is 43rd in the world and that number is slipping in the end our biggest health risk may actually be inequality and extreme inequality hurts us all so what do we do well if we're all going to be healthier we don't just need to help the folks in bille Beat the odds we need to change the odds for everyone and that's what we're doing there's a movement happening we're Californians we don't follow we lead we are building the power to make Health happen in communities across the state we are coming together to build one California a smarter more inclusive and Equitable state that creates health and opportunity for all of us join us to learn more visit building healthy communities.com org