Study reveals 19-year life expectancy gap in Hawaiʻi

A new University of Hawaiʻi study reveals a striking 19-year difference in life expectancy among Hawaiʻi’s major ethnic groups. The analysis shows that while the state continues to rank among the nation’s healthiest, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders continue to face the greatest disparities.

Researchers from UH Mānoa’s Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health—Yan Yan Wu, Michael M. Phillips, and Kathryn L. Braun—collaborated with Lance Ching and Claire Prieto from the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health to update Hawaiʻi’s life expectancy trends through 2020. The new report builds on a 2017 UH study that tracked changes from 1950 to 2010.

Life expectancy by group

According to the latest data, Hawaiʻi residents live an average of 81.9 years, compared to the national average of 77.0 years. However, large differences remain across ethnic groups:

• Native Hawaiians: 77.4 years
• Other Pacific Islanders: 69.6 years (first time included in the analysis)
• Chinese: 88.2 years
• Japanese: 84.9 years
• Korean: 84.3 years (newly analyzed)
• Filipino: 83.4 years
• White: 81.8 years

“Hawaiʻi residents have made steady gains in longevity over the past 70 years,” Wu said. “However, life expectancy for Native Hawaiians continues to be 10 years less than the life expectancy for the longest-living group. Also, this is the first year we included Other Pacific Islanders in our estimates, and their life expectancy is even lower—almost 19 years less than for the longest-living group.”

Why the gap persists

The researchers noted that differences in life expectancy are likely linked to social and economic conditions. Compared to Filipinos, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, higher proportions of East Asians and Whites in Hawaiʻi have college degrees, adequate incomes and own homes.

“This study underscores the importance of disaggregating public health data so that programs can be developed and tailored for populations most in need of assistance,” Braun said. “The data also suggest that increasing the standard of living for the groups with lower life expectancies may go a long way to improving their health status and longevity.”