Health disparities statistics show that health outcomes differ across racial and ethnic groups, ages, places, sexes, and income levels. Recent U.S. data document gaps in mortality, maternal and infant health, insurance coverage, HIV diagnoses, and cardiovascular risk factors. The measures below come from different years and populations, so each period and denominator matters when interpreting the comparisons.
Contents
- Mortality differences by race, ethnicity, and sex
- Maternal mortality by race and age
- Infant mortality by race and place
- Insurance coverage gaps
- HIV diagnosis disparities
- Cardiovascular risk factors
Mortality differences by race, ethnicity, and sex
The CDC report Mortality in the United States, 2024 places the U.S. life expectancy at birth at 79.0 years in 2024. The U.S. age-adjusted death rate was 722.1 deaths per 100,000 standard population. Age adjustment helps make group rates more comparable when age distributions differ, but it does not explain why the rates differ.
The corrected 2024 age-adjusted death rates varied substantially by race and sex:
| Group | Corrected age-adjusted death rate, 2024 (per 100,000) |
|---|---|
| Asian females | 317.6 |
| Hispanic females | 454.6 |
| White females | 646.6 |
| Black females | 727.2 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native females | 872.7 |
| Asian males | 454.2 |
| Hispanic males | 651.9 |
| White males | 871.1 |
| Black males | 1,094.9 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native males | 1,213.0 |
Within every listed racial or ethnic group, the male rate was higher than the female rate. Among females, the reported rate ranged from 317.6 deaths per 100,000 for Asian females to 872.7 for American Indian and Alaska Native females. Among males, it ranged from 454.2 for Asian males to 1,213.0 for American Indian and Alaska Native males. These are corrected, age-adjusted estimates for 2024; they are not counts of individual deaths and should not be read as a measure of any one person’s risk.
The same source reports a national rate rather than a single explanation for the differences. Race and ethnicity categories describe population-level patterns, and the figures do not by themselves identify the effects of medical care, living conditions, exposure, income, discrimination, or other factors.
Maternal mortality by race and age
The CDC’s Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2023 reports an overall maternal mortality rate of 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023. The racial and ethnic rates were:
- Black women: 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births.
- White women: 14.5 deaths per 100,000 live births.
- Hispanic women: 12.4 deaths per 100,000 live births.
- Asian women: 10.7 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The reported Black maternal mortality rate was therefore measured at more than three times the White rate in this 2023 dataset. That comparison is a description of the published rates, not a causal conclusion. Rates use live births as the denominator and concern maternal deaths as defined by the source.
Age differences were also pronounced in 2023. The maternal mortality rate was 12.5 deaths per 100,000 live births for women younger than 25, 18.1 for women ages 25–39, and 59.8 for women ages 40 and older. The age-specific figures and race-specific figures use the same annual period, but they describe different groupings; they should not be combined into a single ranking.
Infant mortality by race and place
The CDC’s Infant Mortality in the United States, 2023 reports infant mortality rates by the race and ethnicity of the mother. In 2023, the rates were 10.93 deaths per 1,000 live births for infants of Black women, 9.20 for infants of American Indian and Alaska Native women, and 8.21 for infants of Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander women. The rate was 5.03 for infants of Hispanic women, 4.48 for infants of White women, and 3.44 for infants of Asian women.
These figures use deaths per 1,000 live births, a different denominator from the maternal mortality rates above. They describe infant outcomes and should not be interpreted as maternal death rates. The source’s wording also matters: the groups are identified through the mother’s race or ethnicity.
Place-based differences appear in the CDC report Trends and Differences in Infant Mortality Rates in Rural and Metropolitan Counties in the United States, 2021–2023. During 2021–2023, the total infant mortality rate was 6.45 deaths per 1,000 live births in rural counties and 5.06 in large metropolitan counties. The neonatal mortality rate was 3.85 in rural counties and 3.34 in large metropolitan counties.
| County classification | Total infant mortality | Neonatal mortality |
|---|---|---|
| Rural counties | 6.45 per 1,000 live births | 3.85 per 1,000 live births |
| Large metropolitan counties | 5.06 per 1,000 live births | 3.34 per 1,000 live births |
The county comparison covers a three-year period, while the race and ethnicity comparison covers 2023. Because the time windows differ, the values should be kept separate rather than treated as one synchronized national snapshot.
Insurance coverage gaps by race and ethnicity
The National Health Interview Survey early-release report, Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, January–June 2023, reports coverage among people younger than 65. In that period, 4.1% of Asian non-Hispanic people were uninsured and 80.5% had private health insurance. Among Black non-Hispanic people, 8.0% were uninsured and 52.0% had private insurance. Among White non-Hispanic people, 5.9% were uninsured and 73.2% had private insurance.
The report also gives estimates for other groups. Among non-Hispanic people of other or multiple races younger than 65, 12.4% were uninsured and 55.9% had private coverage. Among Hispanic people younger than 65, 18.2% were uninsured and 44.5% had private coverage. These categories are not interchangeable: Hispanic origin can include people of any race, while the non-Hispanic categories are presented separately by the source.
For adults ages 18–64, the uninsured estimates were 10.0% among Black non-Hispanic adults and 23.7% among Hispanic adults. These adult figures use a narrower age range than the estimates for people younger than 65, so they should not be directly substituted for one another.
Insurance status is one access-related measure, not a complete measure of health-care access or quality. The January–June 2023 estimates also do not describe coverage changes after that period.
HIV diagnosis disparities by race, sex, and region
The CDC publication Diagnoses, Deaths, and Prevalence of HIV in the United States and 6 Territories and Freely Associated States, 2023: Figures reports 38,793 HIV diagnoses among people aged 13 years and older in the United States in 2023.
Diagnosis shares differed from population shares. Black or African American people accounted for 38% of diagnoses and 12% of the population aged 13 years and older. Hispanic or Latino people accounted for 34% of diagnoses and 18% of the population. White people accounted for 23% of diagnoses and 60% of the population. These percentages describe diagnoses and population composition; they are not prevalence estimates and should not be read as individual probabilities.
The highest HIV diagnosis rate among females aged 13 years and older by race and ethnicity was 19.6 per 100,000 for Black or African American females in 2023. Among females by age, those ages 25–34 had the highest age-group diagnosis rate, at 9.2 per 100,000.
Geography also mattered. The South had the highest HIV diagnosis rate among the four main U.S. regions, at 18.4 per 100,000 people aged 13 years and older in 2023. In the South, Black or African American people accounted for 47% of HIV diagnoses but 19% of the population aged 13 years and older. Regional and demographic comparisons use the same annual source, but each rate or share has its own denominator.
Cardiovascular risk factors by age and income
The CDC’s Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Adults: United States, August 2021–August 2023 reports the number of cardiovascular disease risk factors among U.S. adults during August 2021–August 2023. Overall, 36.4% of adults had no risk factors, 34.9% had one, and 28.7% had two or more.
The share with two or more risk factors was 31.7% for men and 25.8% for women. The share with no risk factors declined across the listed age groups: 53.7% among adults ages 20–39, 29.6% among adults ages 40–59, and 24.7% among adults ages 60 and older.
Income differences were also reported. Among adults with family income below 130% of the federal poverty level, 32.9% had no cardiovascular disease risk factors and 31.3% had two or more. Among adults with family income at or above 350% of the federal poverty level, 38.9% had no risk factors. The supplied figures do not provide the corresponding two-or-more-risk-factor percentage for the higher-income group, so no additional comparison can be made from this source.
These estimates cover a multi-year survey period and summarize risk-factor counts, not diagnosed cardiovascular disease itself. Age, sex, and income comparisons should therefore be understood as separate descriptive views of the same survey period.