Overall life expectancy continues to increase, but looking at it from the other end — mortality rates — show different trends for different groups, especially women who live in rural areas. Dan Keating and Kennedy Elliott for the Washington Post explain with a collection of time series charts.
For younger age groups, drug overdose and suicide account for virtually all of the increases in death rate. For older groups, additional causes of death are also increasing, particularly heart and lung diseases for rural women, and cirrhosis for people over 45.
Rather than show mortality rates over time, the charts focus on the actual percentage change from 1990. A line that trends upwards is bad.
