Table 3.
Life expectancy in happiness by age and race: U.S. 1970–2000
| Expectation of life | White
|
Black
|
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 1970–2000 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 1970–2000 | |
| At age 30 years | ||||||||||
| Total (TLE) | 44.2 | 46.5 | 47.7 | 48.7 | 4.4 | 38.7 | 41.6 | 42.2 | 44.1 | 5.4 |
| Happy (HapLE) | 38.8 | 41.3 | 42.8 | 44.1 | 5.3 | 30.0 | 33.1 | 34.2 | 36.4 | 6.4 |
| Very happy (VHapLE) | 16.8 | 17.1 | 16.9 | 16.6 | −0.1 | 8.4 | 9.6 | 10.3 | 11.4 | 3.0 |
| Pretty happy (PHapLE) | 22.0 | 24.2 | 25.9 | 27.4 | 5.4 | 21.6 | 23.5 | 23.9 | 25.0 | 3.4 |
| Unhappy (UHapLE) | 5.4 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 4.6 | −0.9 | 8.7 | 8.6 | 8.0 | 7.6 | −1.0 |
| % of life expectancy | ||||||||||
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | ||
| Happy | 87.7 | 88.7 | 89.7 | 90.6 | 2.9 | 77.6 | 79.5 | 81.1 | 82.7 | 5.1 |
| Very happy | 38.0 | 36.7 | 35.5 | 34.2 | −3.8 | 21.7 | 23.1 | 24.4 | 25.8 | 4.1 |
| Pretty happy | 49.7 | 52.0 | 54.2 | 56.2 | 6.5 | 55.9 | 56.4 | 56.7 | 56.9 | 1.0 |
| Unhappy | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.3 | 9.4 | −2.9 | 22.4 | 20.5 | 18.9 | 17.3 | −5.1 |
| At age 65 years | ||||||||||
| Total (TLE) | 15.0 | 16.6 | 17.4 | 17.9 | 2.8 | 14.2 | 15.4 | 15.6 | 16.1 | 2.0 |
| Happy (HapLE) | 12.9 | 14.4 | 15.3 | 15.9 | 3.0 | 11.2 | 12.4 | 12.8 | 13.6 | 2.3 |
| Very happy (VHapLE) | 5.9 | 6.2 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 1.2 |
| Pretty happy (PHapLE) | 7.0 | 8.1 | 9.0 | 9.7 | 2.6 | 7.7 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 8.9 | 1.2 |
| Unhappy (UHapLE) | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 1.9 | −0.2 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 2.6 | −0.4 |
| % of life expectancy | ||||||||||
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | ||
| Happy | 85.6 | 86.9 | 88.1 | 89.1 | 3.5 | 79.3 | 81.0 | 82.6 | 84.0 | 4.8 |
| Very happy | 39.0 | 37.7 | 36.4 | 35.1 | −3.9 | 24.6 | 26.0 | 27.4 | 28.8 | 4.2 |
| Pretty happy | 46.6 | 49.2 | 51.7 | 54.0 | 7.4 | 54.7 | 55.0 | 55.2 | 55.2 | 0.5 |
| Unhappy | 14.4 | 13.1 | 11.9 | 10.9 | −3.5 | 20.7 | 19.0 | 17.4 | 16.0 | −4.8 |
| At age 85 years | ||||||||||
| Total (TLE) | 5.2 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 1.1 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.3 | −0.2 |
| Happy (HapLE) | 4.5 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 1.1 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 5.4 | 0.0 |
| Very happy (VHapLE) | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 0.2 |
| Pretty happy (PHapLE) | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 1.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | −0.2 |
| Unhappy (UHapLE) | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | −0.1 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.8 | −0.3 |
| % of life expectancy | ||||||||||
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | ||
| Happy | 86.4 | 87.6 | 88.7 | 89.7 | 3.3 | 82.8 | 84.3 | 85.6 | 86.8 | 4.0 |
| Very happy | 38.8 | 37.5 | 36.2 | 34.9 | −3.9 | 25.7 | 27.1 | 28.5 | 30.0 | 4.3 |
| Pretty happy | 47.6 | 50.1 | 52.5 | 54.7 | 7.1 | 57.1 | 57.2 | 57.1 | 56.8 | −0.3 |
| Unhappy | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.3 | 10.3 | −3.3 | 17.2 | 15.7 | 14.4 | 13.2 | −4.0 |