Highlights from the 2007 edition of the Cascadia Scorecard.

The score

11 years behind targets

The trend

Improving steadily

Soundbite

Lifespans have grown more in the last century than in all of prior human history.

2007 results at a glance

Health, as measured by life expectancy, is Cascadia's best-performing indicator. Northwesterners now live to an average of 79.5 years in Cascadia, compared with 81.3 years for the Scorecard model (Japan’s life expectancy as of 2001).

Life expectancy in Cascadia improved by about a month in 2005, the most recent year for which regionwide data are available. That’s one-fifth of the improvement logged in 2004, when average lifespans shot up. But the trend is consistently positive.

Over the most recent decade, average lifespans increased by nearly 2 years, as the toll from virtually every major cause of death declined. Lifespan is the single best indicator of human health.

Region	Life expectancy (years)
British Columbia	81.1 years
Washington	79.3 years
Oregon	78.2 years
Idaho	78.9 years

2007 results in detail

At the dawn of the twentieth century, a resident of the region could expect to reach the age of about 50. One hundred years later, average lifespans had stretched to nearly 79 years: more growth in a single century than in all of prior human history.

British Columbia remains far and away the healthiest jurisdiction in Cascadia, with a lifespan of 81.1 years—topping all other US states and Canadian provinces. If British Columbia were an independent nation, it would rank second in the world in life expectancy, trailing only Japan.

Why does BC lead? First, none of its inhabitants goes without health insurance—unlike the 1 in 7 residents of the Northwest states who goes without such insurance each year.

British Columbia also has fewer fatal car crashes, largely due to compact communities that allow residents to drive less than their neighbors to the south. Compact neigborhoods may also play a role in the province's much lower obesity rate.

Even economics may play a role. The gap between the rich and the poor are narrower in BC--and less income inequality tends to be associated with poor health.

Solutions: Build healthy communities

How can the Northwest states catch up to BC? improving access to preventive medical care—as Washington did in early 2007 for low-income children—is one solution.

But medical care is only part of the solution to better health. Just as important are more systemic changes--ripple-effect solutions--that keep us healthy without medical intervention.

Redesigning our neighborhoods so that we can walk more and drive less, for example, would help promote regular exercise while limiting deaths and injuries from car crashes.

Similarly, taking steps to reduce poverty could alleviate economic and social strains that contribute to poor health.

More information:
Cascadia Scorecard 2007 sources
Why These Measures Matter
Cascadia Scorecard 2007 press kit