Segregated Cities Equal Higher Death Rates - death rates in cities with racial segregation - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), April, 2000

Living in cities with high levels of racial segregation is linked to higher death rates for whites as well as blacks, according to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University of California at Berkeley. They examined the link between residential segregation and mortality in 107 U.S. cities with a population of at least 100,000 and a black population of at least 10%.

Leading the list of segregated cities are Atlanta, Ga.; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Chicago, Ill.; and Gary, Ind. The least segregated cities, as measured by the index of black social isolation used in the study, are Sacramento, Calif.; Long Beach, Calif.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Tacoma, Wash.; and Aurora, Colo.

The researchers' analysis correlates national mortality and U.S. Census data with two different measures of black residential isolation from whites, showing that housing segregation is linked with higher rates of mortality for both blacks and whites and that, the more segregated the city, the stronger the association. In Atlanta, for instance, the death rate per 100,000 population for black males is 1,369.2 and 895.6 for white males, while in Aurora, Colo., it is 397.6 for black men and 177.7 for white males.

"It's not that living next to someone of your own race is bad for your health," explains Chiquita Collins of the University of California. "The problem is the concentration of poverty and disadvantage associated with high levels of segregation." She and David R. Williams, senior research scientist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, found the effect of segregation on mortality varied by cause of death, with mortality from cancer most strongly linked to levels of segregation.

Approximately one-third of the cities studied had extreme levels of black isolation. In them, mortality rates among both black and white residents were especially high, from all causes. "Racial residential segregation has long been known to adversely affect the quality of life for blacks," Williams points out. "This study adds to a small, but growing, body of research showing that it also increases susceptibility to illness and death, not only for blacks, but also for whites. This finding is important because it suggests that the poor living conditions associated with very high levels of segregation are costly for the entire society."