Missourians Living Longer … And Dying In Different Places

Missourians are living much longer. The average Missourian lives about 50 percent longer than a century ago – so many that almost 500 people who died in 1999 were at least 100-years-old. Life expectancy is up and infant mortality is way down. Furthermore, communicable diseases are not the threat they once were. And, when we die, we are more likely to leave someplace other than the hospital. In the last twenty years, the number of deaths in nursing homes and residences has more than doubled. It’s gone up only 11 percent in hospitals.