Why are people in big cities generally much healthier?

[Herbie]

The developed country I am from has higher life expectancy in the city’s than the rural towns.

I’ve noticed that having family from small rural towns but born in the city myself, the old people from cities are much wealthier because property prices boomed in the cities plus higher paying careers with more opportunities and sedentary jobs.

The rural towns are and people are poorer and old people tend not to end up isolated because the young people get drawn to the cities. The food variety in rural towns is limited and people generally drive to a larger rural city for amenities but once they cannot drive any longer their quality of life suffers. Many people had physical jobs and bear injuries from those jobs.

 

[BearWithMe]

I did. I disagree with your assertion socioeconomic status has nothing to do with the difference. Am I not entitled to my opinion?

Come on, I haven't said or implied anything remotely close to this.

I have said socioeconomic status doesn't explain the difference, because even very poor and uneducated people living in big cities tend to have longer lifespans than people living in rural areas.

 

[PolishSun]

i think it's obvious: people in the cities have fewer children or have none.

 

[ChemHead]

i think it's obvious: people in the cities have fewer children or have none.

That's part having higher intelligence. People that are more intelligent don't want to have children when they don't feel they can appropriately support them financially or don't feel they're ready to abandon their more "youthful" habits. People of lower intelligence are careless and neglectful of proactively examining the consequences of their decisions, making the lives of their progeny, in many cases, miserable due to growing up without a financially stable household.

 

[BearWithMe]

i think it's obvious: people in the cities have fewer children or have none.

I can imagine having a child can be very stressful, especially if you are not doing very well financially and struggling to provide to him or her

 

[milkboi]

Just a random anecdote, but I recently went to an amusement park in the countryside and I was shocked how deformed some of the people were looking. Most of the people looked much less attractive than what I was used to see in the city.

 

[milkboi]

That's part having higher intelligence. People that are more intelligent don't want to have children when they don't feel they can appropriately support them financially or don't feel they're ready to abandon their more "youthful" habits. People of lower intelligence are careless and neglectful of proactively examining the consequences of their decisions, making the lives of their progeny, in many cases, miserable due to growing up without a financially stable household.

Very well said

 

[ChemHead]

Just a random anecdote, but I recently went to an amusement park in the countryside and I was shocked how deformed some of the people were looking. Most of the people looked much less attractive than what I was used to see in the city.

I think I've noticed the same. Something that has happened over the past 30+ years is the decline of capable, self-sufficient people living in rural areas. It used to be that people living in rural areas could at least take care of themselves... Did a lot of farming and manual labor and ate more of what was produced by their communities. So, while maybe they didn't have the same motivations in terms of health as a city dweller, they still appeared generally healthy. Now, however, a lot of them are dependent on government assistance and consume synthetic poisons they buy from Walmart and believe are "food" and then they have children with genetic abnormalities and developmental disorders.

 

[BearWithMe]

Very similar observation inspired this thread.

 

[BearWithMe]

In Detroit, which is arguably one of the most unhealthy cities to live, life expectancy is 77,3 years.

That's still more than nation-wide average for small urban towns and rural areas!

If you remove homicides and drug overdose deaths at young age, Detroit would fare even better. Average life expectancy would be something around 78,2.

Median household income in Detroit is $33900.

You can't explain Detroiters' lifespans by socioeconomic status.

EDIT: You can't explain Detroiters' lifespans by education either, because Detroit is city with one of the lowest percentage of graduates in adult population

@tankasnowgod @boris

 

[ChemHead]

You can't explain Detroiters' lifespans by socioeconomic status.

I think you can, but it's somewhat of an indirect effect. They're experiencing the benefits of an environment that was developed by people with high socioeconomic status. That whole city was developed by people of high socioeconomic status and anyone that lives in it gets to experience the benefits of having those type of people around. People of high socioeconomic status want the best grocery stores with the best produce, health stores, gyms, yoga and dance studios, the best hospitals and healthcare facilities, clean streets, clean air, and clean water, etc. They also tend to be more on the liberal side of the spectrum, so larger cities have more subsidized healthcare and food/nutrition programs for the poor. So, the poor in large cities are benefiting from the socioeconomic status of those who demand living in this type of environment. It's why you don't often see people begging in the streets of suburban or rural areas... They're in the big cities because they get fed (really quite well, I might add) and in some cases get access to pretty decent housing... All 100% due to the socioeconomic status of the people that make large cities what they are.

 

[ChemHead]

With that being said, if you were to see a mass exodus of businesses and people of high socioeconomic status from a large city, expect the city's physical and socioeconomic infrastructure to crumble and the lifespan of its remaining poor residents to very quickly decline.

 

[BearWithMe]

I think you can, but it's somewhat of an indirect effect. They're experiencing the benefits of an environment that was developed by people with high socioeconomic status. That whole city was developed by people of high socioeconomic status and anyone that lives in it gets to experience the benefits of having those type of people around. People of high socioeconomic status want the best grocery stores with the best produce, health stores, gyms, yoga and dance studios, the best hospitals and healthcare facilities, clean streets, clean air, and clean water, etc. They also tend to be more on the liberal side of the spectrum, so larger cities have more subsidized healthcare and food/nutrition programs for the poor. So, the poor in large cities are benefiting from the socioeconomic status of those who demand living in this type of environment. It's why you don't often see people begging in the streets of suburban or rural areas... They're in the big cities because they get fed (really quite well, I might add) and in some cases get access to pretty decent housing... All 100% due to the socioeconomic status of the people that make large cities what they are.

None of this is true for Europe, yet the difference in lifespans between European cities and rural areas is even bigger than in America

 

[ChemHead]

None of this is true for Europe, yet the difference in lifespans between European cities and rural areas is even bigger than in America

Can't really speak for Europe, but while it probably doesn't have the social programs in big cities like America does, I'm sure big European cities have clean air and clean water. I doubt people of high socioeconomic status would tolerate otherwise. Certainly, the poor are benefiting from this downstream. Perhaps they are getting access to higher quality food that is also being thrown away by restaurants in wealthy areas of the cities.

 

[tankasnowgod]

The difference in life expectancy between cities and rural areas is getting bigger over time. Apparently, living in big city is more and more healthy since 1969.

Widening rural-urban disparities in life expectancy, U.S., 1969-2009 - PubMed

There is no "Hard Data" here. Researchers in 2014 just made some estimates.

The 1969–2009 national vital statistics mortality database was used to analyze temporal rural–urban inequalities in U.S. life expectancy.

Because the national mortality database does not allow direct computation of life expectancies for people in rural and urban areas, the 1974, 1983, 1993, and 2003 rural–urban continuum variables were linked to the age-, gender-, race-, and county-specific mortality statistics from 1969–1980, 1981–1989, 1990–1998, and 1999–2009, respectively, to derive life expectancy estimates.

The rural–urban continuum variable classifies all U.S. counties into nine distinct groups according to decreasing urbanization levels or increasing levels of rurality, based on the population size of the counties and their proximity to metropolitan areas.

For computing life expectancy and cause-specific mortality rates, the nine rural–urban continuum categories were collapsed into five groups: large metropolitan county-group, medium metropolitan county-group, small metropolitan county-group, urban nonmetropolitan county-group, and rural nonmetropolitan county-group (Table 1).

The broad metropolitan category included large metropolitan counties with population ≥1 million and smaller metropolitan counties of population <250,000. The nonmetropolitan category included small urban towns of population <20,000 and rural towns with a population of <2500, which may or may not be adjacent to a metropolitan area.

Metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas accounted for 83.4% and 16.6% of the total U.S. population in 2007, respectively.

 

[BearWithMe]

Can't really speak for Europe, but while it probably doesn't have the social programs in big cities like America does,

It does, but they are provided by governments and all citizens have equal access to these programs, no matter where they live.

I'm sure big European cities have clean air and clean water. I doubt people of high socioeconomic status would tolerate otherwise.

European cities tend to have the same or worse air quality than American cities. There is much better air quality in rural areas on both continents. As long as there is traffic, you can't really avoid pollution

Air Pollution in Asia: Real-time Air Quality Index Visual Map

How polluted is the air today? Check out the real-time air pollution map, for more than 100 countries.

aqicn.org

Perhaps they are getting access to higher quality food that is also being thrown away by restaurants in wealthy areas of the cities.

This is illegal in Europe. Restaurants and store owners are forced to make extra steps to prevent people from getting leftovers (like special locks on trash cans and containers), otherwise they are fined to oblivion. Talk about dystopia...

 

[tankasnowgod]

In Detroit, which is arguably one of the most unhealthy cities to live, life expectancy is 77,3 years.

That's still more than nation-wide average for small urban towns and rural areas!

If you remove homicides and drug overdose deaths at young age, Detroit would fare even better. Average life expectancy would be something around 78,2.

Median household income in Detroit is $33900.

You can't explain Detroiters' lifespans by socioeconomic status.

EDIT: You can't explain Detroiters' lifespans by education either, because Detroit is city with one of the lowest percentage of graduates in adult population

@tankasnowgod @boris

None of this has to do with actual lifespans. You are comparing "Life Expectancy," which is an estimate.

 

[BearWithMe]

There is no "Hard Data" here. Researchers in 2014 just made some estimates.

I like this map a lot. Its segments are so small that many big cities have their own segments.

And even if they don't, the segments where the biggest cities are located are always these with the highest lifespans in the given country (which is actually even more impressive IMO)

 

[ChemHead]

Something also worth mentioning is that calorie restriction is associated with longevity. So, if you're poor living in a big city (where the poor tend to congregate) and you don't have regular access to copious amounts of calorie dense, decadent foods, you're likely to live longer due to upregulation of genes associated with longevity, compared to lower middle class people in rural areas with plentiful access to unhealthy, calorically dense foods.

 

[tankasnowgod]

Something also worth mentioning is that calorie restriction is associated with longevity.

Literally only in animal experiments where the animals are kept in captivity. This has never been demonstrated in humans, nor in any free living animal.