The Devastating Toll of Being Black in America: 2 Decades of Excess Deaths

Two new studies reveal that Black communities in America have experienced an excess of 1.6 million deaths compared to the White population in the past two decades, resulting in a loss of 80 million years of potential life and a cost of $238 billion in 2018 alone. The root cause of this health inequity is the unequal nature of American society, including access to quality schools, jobs with a living wage, housing in safe neighborhoods, health insurance, and medical care. The failure to achieve health equity in 2018 cost the nation $1.03 trillion, with most of the untimely deaths coming from the Black community. The leading causes of excess death and years of life lost include infant mortality, heart disease, and cancer.