Aging: Longer Life Expectancy Seen for Hispanics

Scientists call it the “Hispanic paradox”: despite high rates of poverty and relatively low rates of health insurance, Hispanics in the United States tend to outlive African-Americans and non-Hispanic whites.

A government report {snip} found that as of 2006, the life expectancy for Hispanics at birth was 80.6 years, 2.5 years more than for non-Hispanic whites and almost 8 years longer than for blacks.

{snip}

So what accounts for the paradox? The report’s author, Elizabeth Arias of the National Center for Health Statistics, speculated that the longer life expectancy might have to do with cultural factors, including close social and family networks and low rates of smoking.

{snip}